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GREGORY'S 

HISTORY OF MEXICO. 

HISTORY OF MEXICO FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT ; GIV- 
ING AN ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT INHABITANTS; THE CONQUEST BY 
CORTEZ ; WAR OF INDEPENDENCE; SUBSEQUENT REVOLUTIONS; 
SANTA ANNA AND OTHER MILITARY LEADERS; THE AR- 
MY; POLITICAL CHANGES; TEXI AN REVOLUTION ; 
CITY OF MEXICO; MEXICAN BEAUTIES; 
AMUSEMENTS; ANECDOTES AND 
INCIDENTS OF MEXICAN LIFE, &C. &C. 




VIEW OF THE GREAT TEMPLE DEDICATED TO THE SUN, 

DESTROYED BY CORTEZ IN 152L. 

It was finished and dedicated in 14S6. It was a place for worship and human sacrifice. Sixty thousand victims perished at 
its dedication, and every part of it was bathed in human blood. It occupied the centre of the city, now the Great Square., It 
was a triple pyramid, with a place for sacrifice on the top. It was surrounded by a Btone wall eight feel thick, crowned with 
battlements and ornamented with figures in the form of serpents. The interior of the inclosure was paved with polished par- 
ses. The wall had four gates, and over each was a military arsenal, r rom 



phyry, and was spacious enoug-h to contain 500 houses 

the centre arose the great Tkocallis, or Temple. The great Cathedral now occupies its place. 



[See p. 14. 



BOSTON: 

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CORNER OF TREMONT AND COURT STREETS. 

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STRATTON & BARNARD, 121 Main Street, Cincinnati. D. JUNE, 273 Main 

Street, Buffalo. FLETCHER, & SELLERS, Rue Champs Elysees, 

New Orleans. 



THE BEST AND HANDSOMEST WEEKLY NEWSPAPER IN THE 
UNITED STATES, IS 




DEVOTED TO DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN LITERATURE, NEWS, SCD3NCE, 

ARTS AND AMUSEMENT. 

INDEPENDENT OF PARTY OR SECT. 

PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY, BY 

CORNER OF COURT AND TREMONT STREETS, BOSTON 

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STRATf ON & BARNARD, 121, Main St. Cincinnati. 



Of this ably conducted and handsomely printed Family Newspaper has induced the 

Proprietor to make such outlays as to render the ' Flag,' the most worthy of 

patronage of any periodical in the United States — a reputation, indeed, which 

it has already acquired, among the many who have been so fortunate 

as to obtain it. To substantiate this fact fully in the minds of all, 

we have only to state that it has already acquired a circulation of 



And it is now increasing in the ratio of at least five hundred per week. This cir- 
culation has not been obtained by any extra exertions, but it is to be 
attributed solely to the appreciation of the paper in the minds 
of an enlightened and intelligent community. 
{^ORIGINAL $100 PRIZE TALES, from the pens of the most popular authors 
of the day, will always form an attractive feature of the paper. Also all the Dramatic 
and Musical News, together with the general intelligence of the day, and and an almost 
endless variety of items on all subjects, — Grave, Lively, Satirical, Comic and Sentimen 
tal, combined, to make' it a paper calculated to suit every one. 

Terms, Two Dollras per annum, or One Dollar for six months, invariably in 
advance. 

Those in the country who wish to become subscribers to the ' Flag,' by enclosing 
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pend upon receiving their paper regularly every week, and in due time. 

The ' Flag' may also be obtained at all the Periodical Depots in the United States 
and of Newsmen, at four cents per copy. 

N. B. If the reader of this should have been so unfortunate as not to have seen 
this Model of Newspapers, and should wish to do so before subscribing, can be grati- 
fied by enclosing us a five cent piece, directed (post paid,) to either of the above places^ 

F. GLEASON, Proprietor. 



GREGORY'S 






A HISTORY OF MEXICO 
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT; GIVING AN ACCOUNT 
OF THE ANCIENT INHABITANTS ; THE CONQUEST BY CORTES ; 
THE SPANISH DOMINION; WAR OF INDEPENDENCE; 
SUBSEQUENT REVOLUTIONS ; SANTA ANNA AND 
OTHER MILITARY LEADERS ; THE ARMY; 
GOVERNMENT ; POLITICAL CHAN- 
GES; TEXIAN REVOLUTION; 
GEOGRAPHICAL VIEW OF THE COUNTRY ; MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, 
SEAPORTS, CITY OF MEXICO, CLIMATE, SOIL, PRODUC- 
TIONS, EXHAUSTLESS MINES OF GOLD AND SIL- 
VER; POPULATION, HETEROGENEOUS RACES; 
RELIGION, PRODIGIOUS WEALTH OF 
THE CHURCHES ; STATE OF 
SOCIETY, MEXICAN 
BEAUTIES, 
ETIQUETTE, AMUSEMENTS, GAMING, COCK-FIGHTS, 
BULL-FIGHTS, ANECDOTES AND INCIDENTS 
OF MEXICAN LIFE, &C. 



BY SAMUEL GREGORY, A. M. 



0* - 






ioo.i 

e 



BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY E. GLEASON, 
AT THE FLAG OF OUR UNION OFFICE, 

CORNER OF COURT AND TREMONT STREETS. 

1847, 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by F. GI/EASON, in Oie Clerk's Of- 
fice of the District Couit of Massachusetts. 



[PCS UFA© 



Next to the history of our own country, that of Mexico is becoming to us a subject of 
the greatest interest anil importance. Though neighboring Republics, the intercourse be- 
tween the two countries has been exceedingly limited, and until the commencement of the 
present war, but little more was known, by the community in general, respecting the past 
and present condition of Mexico than of China. 

Some valuable works have been published, but the several authors have usually confined 
themselves to particular portions of Mexican history, so that a person would need to pro- 
cure a small library to obtain a complete view of the whole. Having with some difficulty 
procured the different works on the subject, and consulted them for his own information, 
the writer thought that perhaps it might not be an unacceptable service to give a condensed 
and connected view of Mexican history, in a cheap form for general reading. 

As a guide to those who wish to continue their researches, and who are not already ac- 
quainted with the sources of information, it may be well to name some of the works on 
this subject. There are good articles on the history and geography of the country, and its 
revolutions, in the large Encyclopedias, Edinburg, Britanica, Americana; in some of the 
volumes of the North American, Democratic, and other Reviews, and in McCulloch's Gazeteer 
— Humbolt's Researches — Robertson's History of America — Ward's Mexico — Poinsett's 
Notes — Prescott's History of the Conquest — Translation of the dispatches of Cortes, by 
Folsom — Thompson's Recollections of Mexico — Life in Mexico, by Madam Calderon — 
Mexico by Brantz Mayer — and the History of South America and Mexico, and their Rev- 
olutions, by John M. Niles, containing also a History of Texas and the Texian Revolution. 

Whatever else may result from the present war with Mexico, it will at least make us bet- 
ter acquainted with the country, The vast barrier of savage region, which has hitherto 
separated us, has now been trod and retrod. The exploration of the country by our armies, 
and of the seas and ports by our navy, will be followed by immigration, and the introduc- 
tion of the enterprise and improvements of the northern republic. Our vessels and steamboats 
will crowd her ports ; commercial relations will create mutual interests ; social intercourse 
will increase, and peace and friendship will succeed to the turmoil of war. 

The little that has been known of Mexico has given a more unfavorable opinion of the 
country than a fuller knowledge of its history will warrant. We have heard of the revolu- 
tions, anarchy and blood-shed, of the depredations on our commerce, of the sanguinary 
character of Texian war, and have been taught to consider the Mexicans a nation of pi- 
rates and barbarians, without one redeeming quality, or one palliating circumstance for their 
condition or conduct. They have indeed faults, too many and too great to need exaggera- 
tion ; they have also much that is praiseworthy, much that is noble in their character, which, 
like the gold in their mines, needs only to be purified from its baser ingredients, to make it 
captivate by its richness and splendor. 

Boston, July 3, 1847. 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE ANCIENT MEXICANS. 



The Earliest Inhabitants of the Country. The Aztecs or Ancient Mexicans. Founding 
of the City of Mexico. Victorious Career of the Aztecs. Description of the City. 
Aquaducts, Ponds, Gardens, Menagerie, and Bird-house. ' The Halls of Montezuma,' 
Description of. Personal Appearance of the Emperor. Magnificence and Luxury of 
his Palace. Montezuma at Dinner. His Lords and Household. Temples of the Gods. 
Great Temple of Mexico. Dedication of the the Great Temple by sacrificing sixty 
thousand human victims to their JVar-god. One hundred and thirty-six thousand Skulls. 
Sacrificial Stone. Manner of Sacrificing Human Victims. Feasting on Human Flesh. 
Their Ideas of a Future State. Picture-writing. Mode of Recording Events. Arith- 
metic. Mode of Computing Time. Materials of Manuscripts. Calendar Stone. Knowl- 
edge of Astronomy. Edge-tools. Gold-smiths. Mode of Trading. Fairs. Itinerant 
Merchants. Military Weapons. Couriers, or Express-men. Remarks on the Civiliza- 
tion of the Ancient Mexicans. 



At the time of the conquest of Mexico by 
the Spaniards, three centuries and a quarter 
ago, it was inhabited by several races of cop- 
per colored Indians, much like the abori- 
gines of our own country, but far in advance 
of them in point of civilization. The first 
settlers of that country, of whom the tradi- 
tions of the natives gave any account, were 
the Toltecans, a tribe that came from>the 
northern regions of the Rocky mountains, 
and located themselves near the present city 
of Mexico, about the year 648. 

They continued there for four centuries, 
when, it is said, being reduced by famine, 
pestilence and war, they mostly disappeared 



from the country. This nation was acquaint- 
ed with agriculture, some of the useful me- 
chanic arts, and the working of metals. Some 
suppose that portions of this race, migrated 
southward, and that the celebrated ruins of 
Uxmal and Palenque, and other parts of Yu- 
catan and Central America, are the remains 
of their cities. 

Next followed, from the northwest, a ruder 
tribe, called Chichemecs, about 1160; and 
in the course of another century these were 
supplanted by more civilized races, among 
whom were the Aztecs, the ancient Mexicans. 
They came from a region north of the gulf 
of California, and entered the Mexican val- 



10 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



ley in the last of the twelfth century, and af- 
ter leading an unsettled life for about anoth- 
er hundred years, they at length, in 1325, 
founded their chief city, on an island in lake 
Tescuco. They were directed to the spot 
for the site of their capital, by seeing an ea- 
gle perched on a cactus or prickly pear, and 
having a serpent in his talons. This was 
considered a favorable omen, and the Aztecs 
called their city Tonochtitlan, a word signif- 
icant of the incident alluded to. The city 
was sometimes called Mexico, in honor of 
their war-god Mexitli. 

The Spaniards not only adopted this latter 
name of the Aztec city, but as if indicative 
of the fact that their race is engrafted upon 
that of the natives, they have adopted the 
device of the eagle and cactus as the arms of 
their republic. 

The Aztecs, though at first possessing but 
a group of islands in lake Tescuco, soon by 
superior discipline and military prowess be- 
gan to extend their limits, subjecting one na- 
tion after another, and under Montezuma, 
the first, the greatest of their sovereigns, they 
had, by the middle of the fifteenth century, 
extended their dominion to the gulf of Mex- 
ico ; and before the arrival of the Spaniards, 
not two hundred years from the founding of 
the city, the Aztec sway was acknowledged 
from the gulf to the Pacific, and on the south 
to the bay of Honduras. 

The imperial city was enriched by the. 
spoils of conquest, and the annual tribute of 
conquered nations made it the queen of the 
lakes, and, as it has been called, the Venice 
of the Western World. 

But many of the tributary States yielded 
only an unwilling obedience, and the warlike 
little republic of Tlascala, within seventy 
miles to the East, had maintained its inde- 
pendence against the formidable power of the 
Mexican arms. Montezuma, the second, 
who filled the throne at the time of the inva- 
sion by the Spaniards, lived in great pomp 
and splendor ; his immense revenues were 
expended in the magnificent equipage of his 



court, in adorning his capital, and in keeping 
up larcre armies to maintain his authority over 
the conquered nations. The state of things- 
was very favorable to Cortes, as many of the 
disaffected chiefs were ready to unite their 
arms with his against the terrible Monte- 
zuma. 

The wonder and admiration of the Span 
iards, as they approached the city and the 
' Halls of the Montezumas,' are thus de- 
picted by Berna! Diaz, a soldier in the army 
of Cortes : ' When we beheld the number ot 
populous towns upon the water and main 
land, the broad causeways which ran straight 
and level over the water to the city, and the 
great towers and temples of stone, which 
seemed to rise out of the water, we could 
compare it to nothing but the enchanted 
scenes we had read of in Amadis de Gaul. — 
To many of us it appeared doubtful whether 
we were asleep or awake. Nor is the man- 
ner in which I express myself to be wonder- 
ed at, for it must be considered that never 
yet did man see, hear, or dream of anything 
equal to the spectacle which appeared to our 
eyes that day. I thought within myself that 
this was the garden of the world. 

When we came near certain towers, close 
to the city, Montezuma, who was there, quit- 
ted his palanquin, and was borne in the arms 
of princes, under a canopy of the richest ma- 
terials, ornamented with green feathers, gold 
and precious stones, that hung down in the 
manner of a fringe. He was most richly 
dressed, and wore buskins of pure gold, stud- 
ded with jewels. The people spread man- 
tles on the ground lest his feet should touch 
it, and all who attended him, except the four 
princes, kept their eyes fixed on the earth, 
not daring to look him in the face. 

Who could count the multitudes of men, 
women and children that thronged the streets, 
the canals, the terraces, and the house tops 
that day? We were astonished at the num- 
ber of canoes passing to and from the main 
land, loaded with provisions and merchan- 
dise 5 and we could now perceive that in this 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



11 



great city, and all the others in the neighbor- 
hood that were built in the water, the houses 
stood separate from each other, communica- 
tkig by draw bridges and boats, and that they 
were built with terraced roofs. We saw also 
the temples and oratories of the adjacent 
cities, built in the form of towers and castles, 
and others on the causeway, all painted white 
and wonderfully brilliant. The noise and 
bustle of the market-place could be heard al- 
most a league off; and those ot us who had 
been at Rome and Constantinople, said, that 
'for convenience, regularity and population, 
they had never seen the like.' 

The city was supplied with water by an 
aquaduct of masonry, leading from Chapul- 
tepec, two miles distant. There were artfi- 
cial ponds for fish ; and, connected with the 
palace of Montezuma, was a garden filled- 
with shrubs and plants of every scent, and 
flowers of every hue; an extensive menagerie 
of wild beasts, collected from the mountain 
regions and burning plains of his broad do- 
minions; an aviary, filled with the feathered 
race of unnumbered variety of note and plume, 
which abound in the wonderfully varied cli- 
mate of that country. 

It must not, however, be inferred from all 
this, that the Indian capital bore a very close 
resemblance to the cities built by enlighten- 
ed nations. The houses of the poorer classes 
were built of reeds and mud, but arranged 
along the borders of the canals so as to give 
them a pretty appearance. The palace of 
the emperor and the dwellings of the chiefs 
and nobles, were constructed of stone and 
mortar, with roofs of cedar or other wood. — 
They were generally but one story high, but 
some of them covered a large space of ground. 

The far famed ' Halls of the Montezu- 
mas,' as they first appeared to the wondering 
eyes of the Spaniards, are thus described in 
Prescott's History of the Conquest. ' On the 
following morning, the general requested per- 
mission to return the emperor's visit by wait- 
ing on him in his palace. This was readily 
granted, and Montezuma sent bis officers to 



conduct the Spaniards to his presence. Cor- 
tes dressed himself in his richest habit, and 
left the quarters attended by Alvarado, San- 
doval, Velasques, and Ordaz, together with 
five or six of the common file. 

The royal habitation was at no great dis- 
tance. It stood on the ground to the south- 
west of the cathedral, since covered in part 
by the Casa del Estado, the palace of the 
dukes of Monteleone, the descendants of 
Cortes. It was a vast, irregular pile of low 
stone buildings, like that garrisoned by the 
Spaniards. So spacious indeed, that, as one 
of the conquerors assures us, although he had 
visited it more than once for the express pur- 
pose, he had been too mnch fatigued each 
time by wandering through the apartments, 
ever to see the whole of it. It was built of 
the red porous stone of the country, tdzontli, 
was ornamented with marble, and on the fa- 
cade over the principal entrance were sculp- 
tured the arms or device of Montezuma, an 
eagle bearing an ocelot in his talons. 

In the courts through which the Spaniards 
passed, fountains of crystal water were play- 
ing, fed from the copious reservoir on the 
distant hill of Chapultepec, and supplying in 
their turn more than a hundred baths in the 
interior of the palace. Crowds of Aztec no- 
bles were sauntering up and down in these 
squares, and in the outer halls, loitering away 
their hours in attendance on the court. 

The apartments were of immense size, 
though not lofty. The ceilings were of va- 
rious sorts of odoriferous wood ingeniously 
carved ; the floors covered with mats of the 
palm leaf. The walls were hung with cot- 
ton richly stained, with skins of wild ani- 
mals, or gorgeous draperies of feather-work 
wrought in imitation of birds, insects, and 
flowers, with the nice art and glowing radi- 
ance of colors that might compare with the 
tapestries of Flanders. Clouds of incense 
rolled up from censers, and diffused intoxi- 
cating odors through the apartments. The 
Spaniards might well have fancied themselves 
in the voluptuous precincts of an Eastern bz- 



12 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



rem, instead of treading the halls of a wild, 
barbaric chief in the Western world.' 

As to the personal appearance of Monte- 
zuma, he is represented as being at that 
time, about forty years of age, tall, thin, and 
well formed, his hair black and straight, and 
not very long ; beard thin, and complexion 
lighter than usual in the copper colored race, 
a serious though not melancholy cast of 
countenance ; there was dignity in his move- 
ments, and a union of gentleness and author- 
ity in his whole demeanor. 

The following account of Montezuma and 
the style ot his court is given by the old sol- 
dier, Bernal Diaz, as quoted by Brantz 
Mayer : 

f The great Montezuma was, at this time, 
aged about forty years, of good stature, well 
proportioned, and thin. His complexion was 
much fairer than that of the Indians ; he wore 
his hair short, just covering his ears, with 
very little beard, well arranged, thin and 
black. His face was rather long, with a 
pleasant mien and good eyes; gravity and 
good humor were blended together when he 
spoke. He was very delicate and cleanly in 
his person, bathing himself every evening — 
He had a number of mistresses of the first 
families, and two princesses, his lawful wives ; 
when he visited them, it was with such se- 
crecy that none could know it except his own 
servants. He was clear of all suspicions of 
unnatural vices. The clothes which he wore 
one day he did not put on for four days af- 
ter. 

He had set two hundred of his nobility as 
a guard in apartments adjoining his own. Of 
these only certain persons could speak to 
him, and when they went to wait upon him, 
they took off their rich mantles and put on 
others of less ornament, but clean. They 
entered his apartments barefooted, their eyes 
fixed on the ground, and making three incli- 
nations of the body as they approached him. 
In addressing tin king they said, " Lord — my 
lord — great lord 6 1" When they had finished 
he dismissed them with a few words, and 



they retired with their faces towards him and 
their eyes fixed on the ground. I also ob- 
served, that when great men came from a dis- 
tance about business, they entered his palace 
barefooted, and in plain habit ; and also, that 
they did not enter the gate directly, but took 
a circuit in going towards it. 

His cooks had upward of thirty different 
ways of dressing meats, and they had earth- 
en vessels so contrived as to keep them con- 
stantly hot. For the table of Montezuma 
himself, about three hundred dishes were 
dressed, and for his guards about a thousand. 
Before dinner, Montezuma would sometimes 
go out and inspect the preparations, and his 
officers would point out to him which were 
the best, and explain of what birds and flesh 
they were composed ; and of those he would 
eat. But this was more for amusement than 
any thing else. 

It is said, that at times the flesh of young 
children was dressed for him ; but the ordi- 
nary meats were domestic fowls, pheasants, 
geese, partridges, quails, venison, Indian 
hogs, pigeons, hares and rabbits, with many 
other animals and birds peculiar to the coun- 
try. This is certain — that after Cortes had 
spoken to him relative to the dressing of hu- 
man flesh, it was not practiced in his palace. 
At his meals, in the cold weather, a number 
of torches of the bark of a wood which makes 
no smoke, and has an aromatic smell, were 
lighted ; and, that they should not throw too 
much heat, screens ornamented with gold and 
painted with figures of idols, were placed be- 
fore them. 

Montezuma was seated on a low throne or 
chair, at a table proportioned to the height 
of his seat. The table was covered with 
white cloths and napkins, and four beautiful 
women presented him with water for his 
hands, in vessels which they call xicales, with 
other vessels under them, like plates to catch 
the water. They also presented him with 
towels. 

Then two other women brought small 
cakes of bread, and when the king began to 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



13 



eat, a large screen of gilded wood was placed 
before him, so that during that period people 
should not behold him. The women having 
retired to a little distance, four ancient lords 
stood by the throne, to whom Montezuma, 
from time to time, spoke or addressed ques- 
tions, and as a mark of peculiar favor, gave 
to each of them a plate of that which he was 
eating. I was told that these old lords, who 
were his near relations, were also counsellors 
and judges. The plates which Montezuma 
presented to them they received with high 
respect, eating what was on them without ta- 
king their eyes off the ground. He was 
served in earthenware of Cholula, red and 
black. While the king was at the table, no 
one of his guards in the vicinity of his apart- 
ment dared, for their lives, make any noise. 
Fruit of all kinds produced in the country, 
was laid before him ; he ate very little ; but 
from time to time a liquor prepared from co- 
coa, and of a stimulative quality, as we were 
told, was presented to him in golden cups. — 
We could not at that time see whether he 
drank it or not; but I observed a number of 
jars, above fifty, brought in filled with foam- 
ing chocolate, of which he took some that 
the women presented him. 

At different intervals during the time of 
dinner, there entered certain Indians, hump- 
backed, very deformed and ugly, who played 
tricks of buffoonery ; and others who, they 
said were jesters. There was also a compa- 
ny of singers and dancers, who afforded Mon- 
tezuma much entertainment. To these he 
ordered the vases of chocolate to be distrib- 
uted. The four females then took away the 
cloths, and again with much respect present- 
ed him with water to wash his hands, during 
which time Montezuma conferred with the 
four old noblemen formerly mentioned, after 
which they took their leave with many cere- 
monies. 

One thing I forgot (and no wonder) to 
mention in its place, and that is, that during 
the time that Montezuma was at dinner, two 
very beautiful women were busily employed 



making small cakes with eggs and oth- 
er things mixed therein. These were deli- 
cately white, and when made, they presented 
them to him on plates covered with napkins. 
Also another kind of bread was brought to 
him in long loaves, and plates of cakes re- 
sembling wafers. 

After he had dined they presented him 
with three little canes, highly ornamented, 
containing liquid-amber, mixed with an herb 
they call tobacco; and when he had suffi- 
ciently viewed and heard the singers, dancers, 
and buffoons, he took a little of the smoke 
of one of these canes, and then laid himself 
down to sleep. 

The meal of the monarch ended, all his 
guards and domestics sat down to dinner, 
and as near as I could judge, above a thous- 
and plates of these eatables that I have men- 
tioned, were laid before them, with vessels of 
foaming chocolate and fruit in immense 
quantity. For his women, and various in- 
ferior servants, his establishment was of a 
prodigious expense; and we were astonished, 
amid such a profusion, at the vast regularity 
that prevailed. His chief steward was, at 
this time, a prince named Tapica, who kept 
the accounts of Montezuma's rents, in books 
which occupied an entire house. 

Montezuma had two buildings filled with 
every kind of arms, richly ornamented with 
gold and jewels, such as shields, large and 
small clubs like two handed swords, and lan- 
ces much longer than ours, with blades six 
feet in length, so strong that if they fix in a 
shield they do not break ; and sharp enough 
to use. as razors. 

There were also an immense quantity of 
bows and arrows, and darts, together with 
slings, and shields which roll up inco a small 
compass, and in action are let fall, and there- 
by cover the whole body. He had also much 
defensive armor of quilted cotton, ornament- 
ed with feathers in different devices, and cas- 
ques for the head, made of wood and bone, 
with plumes of feathers, and many other ar- 
ticles too tedious to mention.' 



14 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



The most remarkable structures in the an- 
cient Mexican cities were their temples, call- 
ed teocallis or houses of God. They were 
very numerous, often several hundred, large 
and small, in a single city. . 

The great temple of Mexico, stood in the 
central part of the city, it was surrounded by 
a wall eight feet high, built of stone and 
limp, covered with figures of serpents. The 
area within this inclosure was so vast, that 
Cortes asserted that five hundred houses 
might have been built in it. The wall had 
four gates, fronting the four cardinal points, 
and over each portal was an arsenel filled with 
the weapons of war. The space within was 
paved with polished stone, so smooth that the 
horses of the Spaniards could not move over 
it without slipping. (See Engraving.) 

In the centre of this inclosure rose the 
great TeocalH. built in the form of a pyra- 
mid, 323 feet square at the base, and 120 
feet high. It was made of earth, encased 
with hewn stone ; had five stories, each re- 
ceding so as to be smaller than the one be- 
low, thus leaving a walk five or six feet wide 
around the whole, on the top of each story. 
A flight of stairs, at one corner, led to the 
first walk, which must be traversed around 
the pyramid, where a second flight directly 
over the first, led to another story, and so on 
till the top was reached. So that the relig- 
ious processions had to pass four times round 
the building, before arriving at the broad, 
paved platform on the summit. 

Upon this platform arose two towers, con- 
taining altars, on which burned the undying 
fires, like the Vestal flames in ancient Rome. 
Here too were the inner sanctuaries, con- 
taining the images of gods ; and the dreadful 
stone of sacrifice, on which were offered hu- 
man victims to their horrid deities ; and a 
huge drum made of serpents' skins, which 
was struck only on extraordinary occasions, 
when its doleful sounds could be heard for 
many a mile around. 

They had many deities, some, of a milder 
nature, were worshipped by songs and dan- 



ces and the offerings of fruits and flowers.— 
The worship of others consisted of the most 
bloody and abominable rites. 

The most important of their deities, was 
Mexitli, or the god of war. He was the 
guardian power that directed them in their 
wanderings, conducted them to the spot 
for founding their city, and made them vic- 
torious over their enemies. Thousands and 
tens of thousands of their prisoners of war 
were offered on his altars; hence the. Aztecs 
never killed their enemies if they could take 
them captive. 

The image of this ' Mexican Mars' was of 
gigantic size, with a hideous, distorted coun- 
tenance. In his right hand was a bow, and 
in his left a bunch of golden arrows. His 
waist was encircled by the folds of a golden 
serpent, and around his neck was a chain of 
gold and silver hearts, indicating the kind of 
sacrifice with which he was most delighted. 

The great temple was completed and ded- 
icated in the reign of Ahuitzotl, the eighth 
king of Mexico and predecessor of Montezu- 
ma. For its dedication, which took place in 
1486, the prisoners taken in all parts of the 
empire had been reserved for many years. — 
They were ranged in files of nearly two miles 
in length ; the ceremony occupied several 
days, and sixty thousand captives are said to 
have been sacrificed to the terrible war-god. 
The number seems incredible, but the skulls 
of their victims were preserved in buildings 
for the purpose, and the Spaniards counted 
one hundred and thirty-six thousand of these 
ghastly trophies in one of these edifices; so 
that the'estimate, that twenty thousand hu- 
man victims were sacrificed annually in the 
country, comes within the bounds of proba- 
bility. 

The manner of conducting the sacrifice 
was this. The victim was arrayed in the in- 
signia of the god to whom he was to be offer- 
ed. The solemn procession wound up the 
sides of the temple. ' On the summit,' says 
the historian of the Conquest, ' he was re- 
ceived by six priests, whose long and matted 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



15 



locks flowed disorderly over their sable robes, 
covered with hieroglyphic scrolls of mystic 
import. They led him to the sacrificial stone, 
a huge block of jasper, with its upper surface 
somewhat convex. On this the prisoner was 
stretched. Five priests secured his head and 
and limbs; while a sixth clad in a scarlet 
mantle, emblamatic of his bloody office, dex- 
terously opened the breast of the wretched 
victim with a sharp razor of itztli, — a volca- 
nic substance hard as flint, — and, inserting 
his hand in the wound, tore out the palpita- 
ting heart. The minister of death first hold- 
ing this up towards the sun, an object of 
worship throughout Anahuac, cast it at the 
feet of the deity to whom the temple was de- 
voted, while the multitudes below prostrated 
themselves in humble adoration.' 

More revolting still, the body was given 
to the warrior who had taken the captive in 
battle, and sometimes served up as an en- 
tertainment, and eaten by himself and friends. 
The remains were burned or given to the 
wild beasts in the royal menagerie. Thus, 
with all their claims to civilization and re- 
finement, the ancient Mexicans were stained 
by a bloody system of religion and a cana- 
balism more shocking than that of the most 
degraded barbarians. 

Their religious system was relieved by 
more mild and agreeable features. They had 
some conception of an invisible, incorporeal, 
and omnipresent God, the Creator and Lord 
of the universe. ' They imagined,' says 
Prescott, ' three separate states of existence 
in the future life. The wicked — compre- 
hending the greater part of mankind — were 
to expiate their sins in a place of everlasting 
darkness. Another class — with no other 
merit than that of having died of certain dis- 
eases, capriciously selected — were to enjoy a 
negative existence of indolent contentment. 
The highest place was reserved, as in most 
warlike nations, for the heroes who fell in 
battle or in sacrifice. They passed at once 
into the presence of the sun, whom they ac- 
companied with songs and choral dances, in 



his brightprogress through the heavens; and, 
after some years, their spirits went to animate 
the clouds and singing birds of beautiful ■ 
plumage, and to rove amidst the rich blos- 
soms and odors of the gardens of Para- 
dise. Such was the heaven of the Aztecs ; 
more refined in its character than that of 
the more polished pagan, whose elysium 
reflected only the martial sports or sensual 
gratifications of this life. In the destiny 
they assign to the wicked, we discern sim- 
ilar traces af iefinement ; since the abandon- 
ment of all physical torture forms a striking 
contrast to the schemes of suffering so in- 
geniously devised by the fancies of the most 
enlightened nations. In all this, so contrary 
to the natural suggestions of the ferocious 
Aztec, we see the evidence of a higher civili- 
zation inherited from their predecessors in 
the land.' 

The Mexicans had no alphabet or written 
language, but used a symbolical or picture- 
writing, which consisted in delineating ob- 
jects and events by rude paintings or out- 
line sketches. When the envoys from Mon- 
tezuma met the Spaniards on their arrival, 
one of the attendants was observed with his 
pencil, sketching en a sort of canvas; and 
on examining his work, it was found to be a 
delineation of the Spaniards, their dress, 
arms, horses, &x., designed to convey to 
Montezuma the appearance of his unwelcome 
visitors. ' They were net,' says Dr. Robert- 
son, ' acquainted with any other mode of re- 
cording transactions than that of delineating 
the objects which they wished to represent. 
But they could exhibit a complex series of 
events in progressive order, and describe, by 
a proper disposition of figures, the occurren- 
ces of a king's reign from his accession to 
his death ; the progress of an infant's educa- 
tion from its birth until it attained to the 
years of maturity ; the different recompenses 
and marks of distinction conferred upon war- 
riors, in proportion to the exploits which 
they had performed. 

Some singular specimens of this picture- 



16 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



writing have been preserved, which arp just- 
ly considered as the most curious monuments 
of art brought from the New World. The 
most valuable of these was published by Pur- 
chas in sixty-six plates. It is divided into 
three parts. The first contains the history 
of the Mexican empire under its ten mon- 
archs. The second is a tribute roll, repre- 
senting what each conquered town paid into 
the royal treasury. The third is a code of 
their institutions, domestic, political and mil- 
itary. Another specimen of Mexican paint- 
ing has been published in thirty-two plates, 
by the present archbishop of Toledo. To 
both is annexed a full explanation of what 
the figures were intended to represent, which 
was obtained by the Spaniards from Indians 
well acquainted with their own arts. The 
style of painting in all these is the same. They 
represent things not words. They exhibit 
images to the eye, not ideas to the under- 
standing. They may therefore be considered 
as the earliest and most imperfect • essay of 
men in their progress towards discovering 
the art of writing. 

The defects in this mode of recording 
transactions must have been early felt. To 
paint every occurrence was from its nature a 
very tedious operation ; and as affairs became 
more complicated, and events multiplied in 
any society, its annals must have swelled to 
an enormous bulk. Besides this, no objects 
could be delineated but those of sense ; the 
conceptions of the mind had no corporeal 
form ; and as long as picture-writing could 
not convey an idea of these, it must have 
been a very imperfect art. 

It is only in one instance, the notation of 
numbers, that we discern any attempt to ex- 
hibit ideas which had no corporeal form. 
The Mexican painters had invented artificial 
marks, or signs of convention for this purpose. 
By means of these they computed the years 
of their kings' reigns, as well as the amount 
of tribute to be paid into the royal treasury. 
The figure of a circle represented a unit ; 
and in small numbers the computation was 



made by repeating it. Large numbers were 
expressed by a peculiar mark ; and they had 
such as denoted all integral numbers, from 
twenty to eight thousand. The short dura- 
tion of their empire prevented the Mexicans 
from advancing further in that long course 
which conducts men from the labor of de- 
lineating real objects, to the simplicity and 
ease of alphabetic writing. Their records, 
notwithstanding some dawn of such ideas as 
might have led to a, more perfect style, can 
be considered as little more than a species of 
picture writing so far improved as to mark 
their superiority over the savage tribes of 
America ; but still so defective as to prove 
that they had not proceeded far beyond the 
first stage in that progress which must be 
completed before any people can be ranked 
among polished nations. 

Their mode of computing time may be 
considered as a more decisive evidence of 
their progress in improvement. They divided 
their year into eighteen months of twenty 
days ; amounting in all to three hundred and 
sixty. But as they observed that the course 
of the sun was not completed in that time, 
they added five days to the year. These 
which were properly intercalary days, they 
termed supernumerary or waste ; and as they 
did not belong to any month, no work was 
done, and no sacred rite performed on them ; 
they were devoted wholly to festivity and 
pastime. This near approach to philisophi- 
cal accuracy is a remarkable proof that the 
Mexicans had bestowed some attention upon 
inquiries and speculations to which men in a 
very rude state never turn their thoughts.' 

The material for their manuscripts was 
cotton cloth, parchment of skins and a kind 
of paper made of the bark of the aloe, or 
maguey. Their rude records, their songs 
and hymns, and the oral instruction imparted 
to the young, perpetuated their history and 
the exploits of their warriors. 

Agriculture was their chief means of sub- 
sistence. In this their skill corresponded 
with their other improvements. Unlike the 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



17 



less cultivated tribes of the North, instead of 
living the roving life of hunters, and depend- 
ing upon the uncertain product of the wood 
and the stream, they collected into cities and 
villages, and had gardens, reared the banana, 
cocoa plant, and fields of Indian corn. Nor 
did they, like the red man of our forests and 
some more civilized nations, oblige their 
women to perform the labors of the field ; 
though they assisted in some of the lighter 
employments, as gathering fruits and husking 
the corn. 

They had no beasts of draught or of bur- 
den, or any of the more useful domestic ani- 
mals ; having gone no farther than to tame 
and rear a sort of turkey, ducks, a small 
species of dogs and rabbits. Though without 
the aid of animal power, they, by mechanical 
skill and some sort of machinery, contrived 
to rear immense structures, and move 
huge blocks of stone. The great Calendar 
stone, estimated to have weighed fifty tons 
when taken from the quarry, was brought to 
the city from the mountains, several leagues 
distant, over a broken country and streams of 
water. 

This Calendar stone, now to be seen in 
one ot the walls of the Cathedral, is an im- 
mense circular mass of basalt, eleven feet 
eight inches in diameter, covered with carved 
work, astronomical figures and a graduated 
scale for marking the progress of the sun 
through the heavens. It was a sort of dial 
by which they determined the hours of the 
day, and also the period of the solstices, and 
the equinoxes. They regulated their festi- 
vals by the heavenly bodies, understood the 
cause of eclipses, and, considering their 
other improvments, they showed a wonderful 
knowledge of astronomical science. 

The Mexicans were unacquainted with the 
use of iron, but as a substitute they made 
axes and other edged tools, of a composition 
of copper and tin, so tempered as to cut wood 
and stone. 

They obtained silver and gold from mines, 
but principally from the washings of sand, 



not knowing much of the chemical processes 
of extracting the metal from the ore. From 
the gold and silver they made beautiful orna- 
ments, images, birds and other curiosities, 
and vases covered with ingenious devices, 
skillfully wrought with their engraving tools; 
in which art it is said they excelled the 
Spanish silver-smiths themselves. As the 
precious metals were not with them, the 
standard of property and wealth, by being 
coined into money and used as a circulating 
medium, so they did not set the same value 
on them as did the greedy Spaniards, who 
for their golden god sacrificed more heca- 
tombs of the poor n atives, than did the latter 
in the more commendable rights of religion. 

There was no general currency among the 
Mexicans, their trading being mostly done 
by exchange and barter ; tribute being 
paid in the produce of the soil, articles of 
manufacture, gold dust and other commodi-. 
ties. Slaves too were articles of traffic, for 
we cannot claim, that the Godless and blood 
stained Aztecs should be in advance of the 
model and Christian Republic of the nine- 
teenth century. 

There were no shops for trade, but a fair 
was held every fifth day in the capital, when 
the unnumbered articles of merchandise 
were brought together, and sales and ex- 
changes effected. There was also a class of 
itinerant merchants, who went out in com- 
panies, laden with jewelry, costly fabrics 
and Jeather-ivork — beautiful embroidery, in- 
wrought with feathers of varied and bril- 
liant hues. With these they traversed the 
country and traded ; and wo betide the city 
or town that injured or insulted them, for 
they were commissioned by the Emperor, 
and often acted as his spies, to report the 
state of affairs in his provinces. 

The military weapons of the Mexicans 
were bows and arrows, slings, darts javelins 
and spears, with heads ot stone or copper ; 
and a formidable sort of sword, being a 
heavy staff with transverse blades of obsidian, 
(a black glassy stone,) passing through it at 



18 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



regular distances. They also had shields 
and helmets and a dress of quilted cotton as 
a defence against the light missiles of their 
enemies. 

They had an admirable arrangement for 
communication between the centre and the 
distant parts of the empire, excelling any- 
thing of the kind that existed in Europe at 
the time. This was a system of couriers, 
swift footed runners, stationed five or six 
miles apart, in lines to the remotest borders 
of the country. When anything important 
occurred, in peace or in war, the oral infor- 
mation or the pictured dispatches were 
transmitted from one courier to another and 
so on to the capital, with incredible celerity. 
Rare fruits and articles of luxury, for the 
royal household, were forwarded in the same 
way, by these express men ; and it is said 
that fish, fresh and nice, were smoking on 
the Emperor's table, within twenty-four 
hours after they were caught in the Mexican 
gulf, two hundred miles distant. And be- 
fore the Spaniards had come to anchor, the 
news of their coasting northward was borne 
to the ears of Montezuma. In this manner 
the Emperor was immediately made acquaint- 
ed with everything thst was transpiring in 
his extensive dominions. 

In contemplating the character of the an- 
cient Mexicans, and the degree and quality 



of their civilization, one is struck with the 
incongruities and contradictions that are 
presented. Their system of laws, and police 
regulations, the education of their youth, 
their knowledge of architecture, of astronomy 
and the calculation of time, their manufac- 
ture?, agriculture, gardens, fountains, domes- 
tic customs, and the splendid and luxurious 
style of living, indicate a high degree of 
advancement in the arts and comforts of 
civilized life. While their incessant and 
ferocious wars, the merciless treatment of 
prisoners and their bloody system of religion, 
mark them as a race of fierce barbarians. 
The tact however that they had reduced their 
religion to a regular system, and had their 
temples, altars and idols, their priests, victims 
and festivals, shows a kind of superiority over 
the simpler worship of the wandering tribes. 
To what degree of civilization and refine- 
ment they would have arrived, had America 
remained undiscovered, it is impossible to 
conjecture. But, judging from the progress 
they had made in two hundred years from the 
rude beginnings of their city, it seems proba- 
ble that in the progress of time, they would 
have attained a degree of knowledge and 
refinement equal to that of the most polished 
nations who have not enjoyed the light of 
revelation and the benign influence of 
Christianity. 



CHAPTER II. 



CONQUEST BY CORTES 



Discovery of Mexico. Expedition against it vndir Cortes. Lands at St. Jvan de Ulua. 
Reception by the Natives. They offer Rich Presents. Founding of Vera Crvz. Cor- 
tes Destroys his Ships — Marches for Mexico — Passes Jalapa. Battles and Alliance 
with the Tlasealans. Slaughter of six thousand Inhabitants of Cholula. Approach of 
the Spaniards to the Capital. Magnfcent Reception by the Emperor, Montezuma. — 
Cortes seizes the Emperor in his Palace and governs the Empire in his name. Gov- 
ernor of Cuba sends an Expedition against Cortes. Mexicans rise upon the Spaniards 
in the City. Montezuma Killed. Retreat and Dreadful Slaughter of the Spaniards. — 
Great Battle of Otumba. Cortes receives Reinforcements — Returns to Mexico — Builds 
Vessels. Battle on the Lake. Siege of the City. Terrible Conflicts. Forty Spaniards 
Taken and Sacrificed to the Gods. The Emperor Guatimozin taken Captive. Surren- 
der of the City. Torture of Guatimozin to make him discover his Treasures. Cortes 
Rebuilds Mexico. Revolt of the Mexicans. Guatimozin Hung, and four hundred and 
sixty Chiefs Burned alive. Subsequent Career and Death of Cortes. 



Considering the extent of the country, 
the number, the intelligence, and the war- 
like character of the population, the con- 
quest of Mexico by Cortes and his band of 
adventurers, is one of the most remarkable 
military acheivments recorded in history. 

Twenty-five years had passed away since 
the discovery of the New World by Colum- 
bus. Hispaniola, Cuba, and some of the 
other West India islands had been settled 
by the Spaniards, and they now began to 
turn their attention westward to the con- 
tinent. In 1518, Don Diego Velasques, 
governor of Cuba, fitted out a small expedi- 
tion of discovery, under Juan de Grijalva. 
He sailed along the coasts of Yucatan and 
the winding shores of the gulf of Mexico, 
putting in at different places to traffic with 



the Indians, and at length landed at an island 
which he called Los Sacrifcios, from seeing 
here, for the first time, the bloody remains 
ot human sacrifices. He touched at another 
small island, which he named St. Juan de 
Ulua ; and coasting northward as far as the 
river Tampico, the fleet returned to Cuba. 
Grijalva gave a glowing description of the 
country he had seen, which, from the beauty 
and verdure of its indented shores, and the 
lovely appearance of its villages, with the 
general applause of the sailors, he had 
called New Spain. And by this name the 
country was known while it remained a 
Spanish colony. He also carried back gold, 
silver, ornaments and other articles which 
he had obtained by his traffic with the 
natives. 



20 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO 



Velasques, prompted by ambition and ava- 
rice, immediately commenced fitting out a 
larger expedition to take possession of the 
country, and plant colonies. At this time, 
when the spirit of adventure was the life of 
the Spaniard, there were enough to embark 
in any enterprise, however hazardous, pro- 
vided it offered gold and glory. 

Velasques was anxious to secure the honor 
which would attend the enterprise if suc- 
cessful, yet being unwilling to endure the 
hardships, or conscious of his want of the 
courage and qualifications to command, he 
was much perplexed to select a leader 
adapted to his purposes. For the success 
of the expedition, it was essential that it 
should be conducted by a person of bold- 
ness and energy, and possessing all the re- 
quisite abilities to command ; but to answer 
the views of Velasques, the person must at 
the same time be so tame and obsequious', as 
to remain the humble servant of his em- 
ployer. Qualities rarely united in the same 
character. 

While Velasques was thus anxiously de- 
liberating, two of his chief officers in the 
government recommended to him Fernando 
Cortes, as a suitable person to invest with 
the command of the armament. Fortunate- 
ly for his country, though not for himself, 
Velasques followed their advice and appoint- 
ed Cortes, thinking him well qualified for 
the station, though of too humble condition 
and fortune, to aspire at independence. 

Cortes was at this time about thirty-three 
years of age. He had been a wild youth ; 
was destined by his parents to the study of 
law, and early sent to the university of Sal- 
amanca, where he obtained the beginning of 
an education, but soon gave up the pursuit of 
knowledge for the active sports and military 
exercises which were better adapted to his 
inclinations. He came out to Hispaniola in 
the year 1504, and was immediately em- 
ployed by Ovando his kinsman, and gov- 
ernor of the island, in several lucrative and 
honorable stations. He accompanied Ve- 



lasques in his expedition to Cuba in 1511, 
and distinguished himself in subjugating the 
island, for which he received a share of the 
lands and the Indians. 

Cortes received his commission with be- 
coming gratitude to the governor, assumed 
the ensigns of command, and erected a 
standard before his own house. He en- 
deavored to influence his friends to engage 
in the service, and used his utmost exertions 
to hasten the preparations for sailing ; em- 
ploying all of his funds and raising what he 
could on the security of his lands and prop- 
erty, to obtain supplies and needful equip- 
ments for his troops. He received his com- 
mission October 23d, and on the 18th of 
November, 1518, he put out from St. Jago 
de Cuba, and proceeded to Trinidad, a set- 
tlement on the same side of the island of 
Cuba, where he increased his supplies and 
the number of his men. The extraordinary 
energy and activity Cortes displayed in the 
preparations, had begun to excite the sus- 
picions of Velasques even before the fleet 
left St. Jago; but now the busy malice of 
Cortes' enemies, and the jealous disposition 
of Velasques had heightened the suspicions 
of the governor to such a degree, that he 
sent an order to Verdugo the chief magis- 
trate at Trinidad, to deprive Cortes of his 
commission. But he had already gained the 
esteem and confidence of his soldiers, and 
Verdugo did not think it prudent to molest 
him. 

Cortes now sailed to Havana, to complete 
the supply of his vessels and the number of 
his troops. Velasques irritated at the failure 
of the attempt to intercept him, and feeling 
that he would now have good reason to throw 
off his allegiance at the first favorable oppor- 
tunity, sent a person in whom he could con- 
fide, with peremptory orders to Pedro Barba, 
his lieutenant governor at Havana, to arrest 
Cortes and send him under a strong guard to 
St. Jago, and to countermand the sailing of 
the fleet. Cortes having been informed of 
what was transpiring, addressed his men 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



21 



stating the design of the governor, and ex- 
posing his illiberal conduct in wishing to de- 
prive him of his command, and to delay the 
sailing of the armament. Many of the of- 
ficers and men had expended all their fortunes 
in preparing for the voyage, and were im- 
patient to depart ; and with one voice they 
expressed their surprise and indignation at 
the unreasonable course of Velasques, and 
besought Cortez not to abandon the post that 
had been assigned him, nor deprive them of 
a leader in whom they had such confidence; 
and declared they would shed the last drop 
of their blood to maintain his authority. — 
Cortez, of course, was not reluctant to com- 
ply with their wishes, and pledged himself 
never to abandon soldiers who were thus at- 
tached to him, and promised immediately to 
lead them to those golden lands whore were 
centered iheir hopes and expectations. — 
Shouts of applause answered this declaration, 
and imprecations against any who should 
dare to molest their general. 

The fleet, which was now ready to sail, con- 
sisted of eleven vessels; the largest of a hun- 
dred tons, three of seventy or eighty, and the 
rest small open barks. The men were six 
hundred and seventeen in number, five hun- 
dred and eight soldiers, a hundred and nine 
seamen and artificers. Fire-arms were not 
the most numerous weapons in use at that 
time, even among the nations of Europe ; and 
only thirteen of the men had muskets, thirty- 
two cross-bows, the rest swords and spears. 
They had only sixteen horses and fourteen 
small field-pieces. With this small and poor- 
ly equipped force Cortez set sail, on the tenth 
of February, 1519, to attempt the conquest 
of a populous and powerful nation, governed 
by a monarch whose dominions were more 
extensive than all the kingdoms subject to 
the Spanish crown. Astonishing as it may 
appear, the spirit of conquest and plunder, 
which .animated the Spanish adventurers in 
the New World, was blended with religious 
enthusiasm ; and a large cross was displayed 
upon their standards, with this inscription, 



1 Let us follow the cross, for under this sign 
we shall conquer.' 

The fleet touched at the different places 
visited by Grijalva, and continued along the 
coast till it came to anchor at the island of 
St. Juan de Ulna. Here a large canoe filled 
with the natives, two of whom appeared to 
be persons of distinction, approached the 
vessels in a friendly manner. They came 
on board without any signs of fear or dis- 
trust, and addressed Cortez in a language un- 
known to his interpreter, Aguilar, a Spaniard 
who understood the language of the tribes 
farther South, having been eight years a cap- 
tive among them. Cortez perceived the dif- 
ficulties under which he must labor, if able 
to communicate with the Indians by signs 
only. Fortunately an Indian woman whom 
the Spaniards had brought from Tobasco, 
understood the Mexican language, which 
she readily translated into her own, with 
which Aguilar was acquainted ; thus by 
means of a double interpretation, Ccrtez 
was enabled to converse with the Mexicans. 
This young woman was named by the Span- 
iards, Donna Marina; she remained true to 
the people who had adopted her, soon began 
to understand their language, and performed 
a most important service as interpreter 
throughout the war of the conquest. 

Cortez now learned that the two chief 
persons were deputies from the two officers 
who governed the province by the authority 
of a great monarch, whom they called Mon. 
tezuma, and that they were sent to inquire 
what were his intentions in visiting their 
coasts, and to offer him any assistance he 
might need in order to continue his voyage. 
Cortez in a respectful manner replied, that 
he had come with the most friendly inten- 
tions, and on matters of great importance to 
their sovereign and his country, as he would 
more fully explain in person to the gover- 
nors. 

The next morning, without waiting for an 
answer, Cortez landed his troops ; and having 
chosen proper ground, they began to erect 



22 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



huts, the natives assisting them with great 
alacrity, little aware that they were cherish- 
ing the plunderers of their country. During 
the day Teutile and Pilpatoe, the governors 
of the province, entered the camp with a 
numerous retinue, and were received by the 
Spaniards with the respect and attention due 
to the ministers of a great monarch. Cortez 
informed them that he had come as an am- 
bassador from Don Carlos, king of Castile, 
the greatest monarch ot the East; and that 
the object of his mission was of such vast im- 
portance, that he could communicate it to 
none but to their sovereign Montezuma him- 
self, and required them to conduct him im- 
mediately to the presence of the emperor. 

The Mexican chiefs were surprised at this 
bold request, and after endeavoring to con- 
ciliate Cortez by a gift of rich presents, they 
attempted to dissuade him from his proposi- 
tion, which they knew Montezuma would 
not willingly submit to. But the 'presents 
only inflamed the cupidity of the Spaniards, 
and Cortez insisted on demanding a personal 
audience with the emperor. Meanwhile 
Cortez seeing some persons in the train de- 
lineating on white cotton cloth figures of the 
ships, horses, cannon, soldiers and their cos- 
tumes, was told that they were to be sent to 
Montezuma, to give him a more correct idea 
of the appearance of the strangers than 
could be conveyed by language. Cortez 
wishing to give them and their monarch an 
impression of terror and awe at their su- 
perior powers, ordered out his troops. 

The trumpets sounded, the soldiers in a 
moment formed in order of battle, the in- 
fantry went through with their evolutions, 
the cavalry gave a specimen of their terrible 
power, the artillery were discharged into the 
woods, making havoc among the trees. The 
Mexicans looked on in silent amazement, 
but at the explosion of the cannon, some fled, 
some fell to the ground, and all were filled 
with consternation, and were confounded at 
the sight of men who seemed to wield the 
powers of the Gods themselves. 



By means of couriers stationed on the 
road, the intelligence was immediately dis- 
patched to Montezuma, and such was the 
expedition of this mode of communication,, 
that it required but a few days for Cortez to 
hear from the capital, about two hundred 
miles distant. Messengers, were also sent, 
carrying some European curiosities to the 
emperor. Teutile and Pilpatoe were in- 
structed to communicate the answer to Cor- 
tez 

Previous to this they endeavored to pre- 
pare the way for his acquiescence, by de- 
livering presents sent by Montezuma. These 
were introduced by a train of a hundred 
Indians, each loaded with the rich treasures, 
which were placed upon mats, so as to dis- 
play them to the best advantage. 

Among these were cotton cloths of so 
fine texture as to resemble silk ; pictures 
of various natural objects, formed of bright 
colored feathers so skilfully arranged and 
intermingled as to resemble the finest paint- 
ings; collars, bracelets, rings and other 
ornaments, specimens of pearls, precious 
stones, gold dust, and two large circular 
plates, one of massive gold, representing the 
sun, the other of silver, an emblem of the 
moon. The value of the gold disc alone, 
which was richly carved with plants and an- 
imals, was estimated at about two hundred 
thousand dollars. 

The Mexicans hoped by this display of 
the wealth and power of their monarch, and 
by his generosity to them, that the Spaniards 
would be induced to depart. They accor- 
dingly told Cortez that their master desired 
him to accept the gifts as a token of regard, 
but that he could not consent to have for- 
eign troops approach nearer to his capital, 
or remain longer in his country. But as 
may be supposed, these proofs of the rich- 
ness of the country only made the greedy 
Spaniards the more eager to take immediate 
possession of it. Cortez expressed his grati- 
tude for the princely gifts he had received, 
but insisted on his first demand, saying he 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



23 



could not return without an interview with 
their sovereign, whom he was commissioned 
to visit in the name of his king. 

The Mexicans were astonished at his 
presumption, being accustomed to 6ee the 
will of Montezuma instantly obeyed ; and 
they requested time to consult the emperor 
once more. 

Montezuma and his counsellors were great- 
ly embarrassed, and knew not what course 
to pursue, A superstitious idea had for 
some time prevailed, that a race of formid- 
able invaders from the regions of the rising 
sun would overrun and desolate their coun- 
try. Probably this idea arose from the | 
vague and shadowy reports of the white men, 
who had touched on the shores of the con- 
tinent some years before. Montezuma 
dreading a war with such formidable ene- 
mies, sent them a more positive command 
to leave his shores, and very unwisely ac- 
companied his order with additional presents. 
Teutile delivered the rich gifts and the final 
command of his sovereign; and Cortez still 
persisting in his demand to visit the em- 
peror, the Mexican left the camp with looks 
and gestures -which expressed his surprise 
and indignation at the insolence of the 
Spanish commander. All friendly inter- 
course now ceased, and it was expected that 
the resentment of the Indians would im- 
mediately break out into open hostility. 

At this juncture, the difficulties of Cortez 
were increased by disaffection among his 
men. They saw the danger of their situa- 
tion, in a populous and powerful country, 
whose ruler would spare no means to effect 
their destruction. Some of the army were 
the friends of Velasques, and taking advan- 
tage of the unfavorable prospects, the leader 
of the disaffected soldiers presented a re- 
monstrance to Cortez and demanded to be 
conducted back to Cuba, to refit their fleet 
and procure an army more adequate to the 
conquest of so great an empire. Cortez im- 
mediately gave orders to prepare to sail the 
aext day ; the effect was what he anticipa- 



ted; clamor and confusion prevailed in the 
camp; the soldiers demand to see their 
leader, and asked him whether it was wor- 
thy of Castilian courage to be daunted at 
the first appearance of danger, and to retreat 
before the enemy appeared. They were 
ready to encounter any danger under him 
as their leader, and to press forward to 
secure the objects of their voyage ; but if he 
chose to return, they would immediately ap- 
point a new general, and pursue the enter- 
prise they had undertaken. 

Cortez delighted with their ardor, took no 
offence at the boldness with which it was ut- 
tered ; and declared that their sentiments 
agreed with his own ; the order to re-em- 
bark had been given, because he thought it 
was their wish ; but now he was ready to 
prosecute his original design, which was, to 
establish a settlement on the coast, and then 
advance into the interior ; and he doubted 
not that he could lead them in a career of 
glory and fortune. The shouts of the sol- 
diers testified their joy, and those who caused 
the disturbance were obliged to join in the 
acclamations to avoid the imputation of in- 
subordination and cowardice. 

Prepatory to forming a settlement, Cortez 
had a council of magistrates elected, to ad- 
minister the government on the model of a 
Spanish corporation. To this tribunal Cor- 
tez resigned the commission which he had 
received from Velasques, stating that though 
he had been accustomed to command, yet 
he should cheerfully obey whomsoever they 
might see fit to place at the head of affairs.. 

The object of Cortez was to throw off all 
dependence on the governor of Cuba, and 
establish an independent colony, subject on- 
ly to the king of Spain. As the council was 
composed of the firm friends of Cortez, they 
immediately chose him captain-general of 
the army, and chief justice of the colony ; 
and made out his commission in the king's 
name, conferring ample powers, and to. con- 
tinue in force till the royal pleasure should 
be further known. The troops on. being 



24 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



consulted, confirmed the appointment by ac- 
clamation, and swore they would shed the 
last drop of their blood in supporting the 
authority of their general and governor. 
Some of the friends of Velasques, complained 
of these proceedings as illegal, but the lead- 
ers of the faction were put in chains on board 
the vessels, and soon became reconciled 
with the commander. 

Some of the officers of Cortez having been 
employed in surveying the coast, found a 
location about forty miles to the north, which 
appeared more favorable for a settlement on 
account of its harbor, and other reasons. To 
this place they removed ; and having marked 
out the town, they called it Villa Rica da 
la Vera Cruz — the rich town of the true 
cross, a name significant of the avarice and 
enthusiasm which prompted their adventures. 
Here they erected huts to protect them from 
the weather, and surrounded their village 
with fortifications sufficient to secure them 
against any attacks from the Indians. 

On his way to this place, Cortez and some 
of his men passed through the village of Cem- 
poalla, and learned from the caciques of the 
province many particulars respecting Mon- 
tezuma. They said they were oppressed 
by his tyranny, and would be glad to throw 
off his yoke. He was haughty, cruel, and 
suspicious ; ruined the provinces by ex- 
cessive exactions, and often tore away their 
sons to sacrifice to his deities, and their 
daughters to be concubines for himself or 
favorites. Cortez received this information 
with a high degree of satisfaction, for he 
concluded that this disaffection existed also 
in other provinces, and that many would 
unite their arms with his to subdue their op- 
pressor. 

While engaged in erecting their rude 
dwellings, and the fortifications, the caciques 
of Cempoalla, and of Quiabislan, frequently 
visited them, and Cortes improved the oppor- 
tunities to inspire them with lofty ideas re- 
specting the power of the Spaniards, and to 
encourage their opposition to the authority 



of Montezuma. Relying on the protection,, 
of Cortez, they soon ventured to insult that 
power at which they had been accustomed 
to tremble. Some of Montezuma's officers 
having come among them to collect the 
usual tribute, and to demand a certain num- 
ber of human victims for the guilt of having 
entertained the strangers after the emperor 
had commanded them to leave his dominions, 
the caciques seized the deputies, threw them 
into prison, and were about to sacrifice 
them to their gods. But Cortez rescued 
them from this fate, and told them to report 
to their sovereign his disapprobation of the 
insult offered to his ministers, and his timely 
interference in their behalf. 

Having thus been instigated to an act of 
open rebellion, the Cempoallans united with 
the Spaniards, as the only means to save them 
from the wrath of Montezuma. Cortez in- 
duced them to acknowledge themselves vas- 
sals of the Spanish monarch; and their ex- 
ample was followed by several other tribes. 

Before starting to the interior, Cortez had 
the magistrates of the colony prepare a high- 
ly colored description of the country they had 
discovered, the progress they had made in 
subduing it to the Spanish dominion, to- 
gether with a justification for throwing off* 
the authority of the governor of Cuba, and 
a request to have their course sanctioned, 
and the commission of Cortez confirmed by 
His Majesty, Charles the fifth. Cortez de 
spatched a vessel to Spain with this report, 
and a similar letter of his own, with many 
specimens of wealth, to confirm the state- 
ments in regard to the richness of the coun- 
try. 

Another manifestation of disaffection now 
appeared in the little army. Some of the 
men had formed a design to seize one of the 
ships and return to Cuba. The design was 
discovered and defeated ; but Cortez was 
aware that many of his followers secretly 
longed to return to their homes and estates 
in Cuba, and that upon any appearance of 
extraordinary danger, or any reverse of for- 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



25 



tune, it would be impossible to prevent them 
from returning thither. After much re- 
flection and deep solicitude, he resolved to 
put his men in a position where they must 
conquer or perish, and such was his influ- 
ence over them, that he brought them to 
acquiesce in the bold expedient 

To some he represented the vessels as 
decayed and unfit for service. It is said 
that he had secretly caused holes to be bored 
in the bottoms. To others he pointed out 
the advantage of having a reinforcement of 
a hundred men, now unprofitably employed 
as sailors ; no one should think of retreat, 
nothing but victory and fortune. 

With universal consent the ships were 
drawn ashore, stripped of sails, rigging, and 
iron works, and then broken in pieces. 

Thus by the wonderful skill and address 
of Cortez, who seemed equal to every emer- 
gency, were six hundred men induced to 
cut off the possibility of retreat, and shut 
themselves up in a hostile land filled with 
powerful and warlike nations. 

Everything now appeared favorable for 
commencing the march towards the golden 
city of the Mexican monarch, when an in- 
discreet zeal for the cross, came nigh in- 
volving the Spaniards in serious difficulty. 
Neither Cortez nor his chaplains had found 
time to give the natives any ideas respecting 
the Christian religion, or any proofs of its 
superiority over their own. 

Notwithstanding this, as they were pas- 
sing through Cempoalla, Cortez ordered his 
followers to throw down their idols, and set 
up a crucifix and an image of the Virgin 
Mary, in their place. 

The natives were filled with horror at this 
violation of their temples and gods ; the 
priests excited them to arms. But so great 
an ascendency had Cortez over them, that 
the commotion was allayed without bloodshed. 

Cortez began his march from Cempoalla 
on the lGth of August, 1519, with five hun- 
dred men, fifteen horse, and six field pieces. 
The remainder of his troops, many of whom 



Were unfit for active service, were left as a 
garrison at Vera Cruz. The cacique of 
Cempoalla, furnished him with provision, and 
two hundred Tamanes, whose office was to 
carry burdens, and perform menial services. 
He also offered a considerable body of sol- 
diers, but Cortez chose from them only four 
hundred, many of them persons of note who 
might be hostages for the fidelity of their 
master. 

Thus prepared, Cortez passed over the 
level country, and wound his way up the 
rugged sides of the Cordilleras, the Indian 
allies dragging the cannon, and the resolute 
little band clambering up the same precipi- 
tous defiles, so lately passed by the American 
army, bound for the same rich city. 

At the close of the second day, the Span- 
iards reposed on that beautiful spot of earth, 
which the Aztecs called by the same eupho- 
neous name it still enjoys, Jalapa. From 
thence they continued their ascent, passed 
the Coffer of Perote, and taking a route to 
the north of the present one by Puebla. On 
their march they called at several important 
towns, where they were received in a friend- 
ly manner, and Cortez endeavored through 
father Olmedo, to inculcate upon them some 
knowledge of the truths of the Christian re- 
ligion ; and wherever they were willing, he 
erected a cross for the adoration of the na- 
tives. 

Arriving on the borders of the indepen- 
dent little republic of Tlascala, and having 
learned that they were the mortal enemies 
of the Mexicans, Cortes hoped to meet a 
friendly reception from them. He sent four 
Cempoallan chiefs to request permission to 
pass through their territory on his march 
against the city of Mexico. The Tlascalans 
were suspicious of these foreign invaders, 
and instead of granting their request, seized 
the ambassadors and were preparing to sac- 
rifice them to their gods. Cortez marched 
into their country, but being a brave and 
warlike nation, they attacked him with im- 
mense armies and with great fury. 



26 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



But the superiority of the weapons, and 
discipline of the Spaniards prevailed ; and in 
several battles thousands of the enemy were 
slain, while the Spaniards only had two hor- 
ses killed, and several men wounded. 

Before attacking the Spaniards, the Tlas- 
calans showed a sort of barbarous generosity 
by forewarning them of their intentions, and 
sending them food, saying they scorned to 
attack an enemy enfeebled by hunger, and 
moreover their gods would not be delighted 
with famished victims for sacrifice. These 
warriors had a good idea of their military 
prowess, having in their mountainous country 
baffled all the attempts of the mighty Mon- 
tezuma to subdue them ; but when they had 
failed to kill a single Spaniard, they began to 
think the white men invincible, and con- 
sulted their priests as to what could be done 
to repel these unwelcome intruders. After 
consulting their oracles, the priests replied, 
that the Spaniards were the children of the 
Sun, and were invincible while cherished by 
his vivifying beams, but at night they would 
be weak as other men. 

Encouraged by this plausible declaration, 
the Tlascalans, contrary to their usual cus- 
tom in war, prepared to dispatch their ene- 
mies by night. But Cortez never permitted 
the possibility of a surprise. His sentinels 
gave the alarm, the troops were instantly 
formed, and sallying out of the camp, re- 
pulsed the enemy with great slaughter. 

One thing that prevented the success of 
the Indians, was their custom of carrying off 
their dead during battle, that they might not 
be devoured by their enemies. They were 
accordingly surprised that the Spaniards not 
only sent back their prisoners, but even gave 
them presents. But some spies coming into 
the camp, Cortez cut off their hands, and 
sent them back to their people. 

At this they were smitten with consterna- 
tion and still more perplexed. Their priests 
and oracles had failed, and they knew not 
whether to consider the Spaniards a race of 
good or evil beings. ' If,' said they ' you 



are divinities of a cruel and savage nature, 
we present you With five slaves, that you may 
drink their blood and eat their flesh ; if you 
are mild deities, accept an offering of incense 
and variegated plumes ; if you are mortals, 
here is meat, and bread, and fruit to nour- 
ish you.' 

Peace was now concluded with the Tlasca- 
lans, they yielding themselves as vassals to 
the crown of Castile, and engaging to assist 
Cortez in his future operations ; at the same 
time receiving his assurance of protecting 
themselves and their possessions. 

This alliance was very opportune for the 
Spaniards, who were nearly worn out with 
the fatigue of watching and fighting. The 
Tlascalans continued the faithful friends of 
the Spaniards, and it was chiefly by their aid 
that the conquest of the Mexican empire 
was effected. 

Cortez remained twenty days at TIascala, 
to recruit his troops ; in the meantime ob- 
taining from his new friends, all the informa- 
tion he could respecting Montezuma and his 
empire, and endeavoring to instruct the chiefs 
in the principles of Christianity. Finding 
them unwilling to give up their superstitions, 
Cortez became excited, and was about to 
overturn their altars and idols, as at Cempo- 
alla ; but father Olmedb, acting with more 
consistency and prudence, represented to him 
the folly of thus hastily thrusting upon them 
a new religion, which they were so little pre- 
pared to receive, and the danger of again in- 
volving himself in hostilities with this power- 
ful nation. By these considerations Cortez 
was dissuaded from his rash designs. 

Reinforced by six thousand Tlascalans, he 
now directed his course to Cholula, a popu- 
lous city, about eighteen miles distant, and 
celebrated for its great pyramid or temple, 
similar in form to that of Mexico, and so 
vast in its dimensions as to cover forty-four 
acres of ground. He was received into the 
city with apparent friendship, but soon dis- 
covered a deeply laid plot to cut off the 
Spaniards at a blow. Having obtained satis- 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



27 



factory evidence of this, Cortez resolved to 
make such an example as should inspire his 
enemies with terror. He drew up his army 
'in the centre of the city, summoned together 
the people, seized the magistrates, and then 
his troops and Tlascalan allies fell upon the 
multitude, deprived of their leaders, and so 
surprised and astonished, that their weapons 
dropping from their hands, they stood mo- 
tionless, and incapable of defence. A ter- 
rible slaughter ensued. The streets flowed 
with blood and were filled with the dead. 
The temples were set on fire and consumed, 
with the priests and chief families who had 
taken refuge in them. This scene of slaugh- 
ter continued two days ; and six thousand 
Cholulans perished, without the loss of a 
single Spaniard. 

From Cholula Cortez advanced directly to 
Mexico, which was but sixty miles distant. 
Many of the villages he passed through, 
hailed him as their deliverer from oppression, 
and he was well pleased to find disaffection 
so near the capital of the empire. The un- 
happy monarch and his counsellors were 
greatly perplexed to know what course to 
pursue. Oue day he sent messengers to the 
Spaniards, permitting them to advance, the 
next commanding them to retire, according 
as his hopes or fears prevailed. As Cortez 
approached the city, a train of a thousand 
persons of distinction came out to meet him, 
adorned with plumes and clad in mantles of 
fine cotton. Each, in order, passed by sa- 
luting Cortez in the manner most respectful 
in their country. Soon the emperor followed 
in his palanquin, covered with a rich canopy, 
and borne on the shoulders of four of his 
nobles. His retinue consisted of two hun- 
dred persons of the highest rank, and arrayed 
in gorgeous apparel. Three officers walked 
before him with rods of gold, which they 
raised at intervals as a signal for the people 
to bow their heads and cover their faces in 
presence of their august sovereign. Cortez 
dismounted and advanced to meet him. At 
the same time Montezuma alighted from his 



sedan, and, leaning on the arms of two of his 
chief men, advanced with slow and stately step, 
cotton mantles being spread upon the ground 
before him. Cortez saluted him in a reve- 
rential manner, and Montezuma returned 
the salutation with equal defference, touching 
his hand to the ground and then kissing it. 
The Mexicans were astonished at this act of 
condescension on the part of their monarch, 
whom they considered as next to the gods. 
Having conducted the Spaniards to the 
quarters prepared for them, Montezuma thus 
addressed Cortez : ' You are now with your 
brothers in your own house ; refresh yourself 
after your fatigue, and be happy until I re- 
turn.' The place allotted to the army was 
formerly a palace, built by the father of 
Montezuma, surrounded by a wall, and so 
spacious as to accommodate the Spaniards 
and their Indian allies. 

Mexico was then surrounded by the waters 
of lake Tescuco, and approached by three 
dykes or causeways, thirty feet wide, with 
openings and draw-bridges at proper distan- 
ces. The dyke leading to the west was a 
mile and a half long, that to the north three 
miles, and one to the south six miles. The 
houses of the common people were no better 
than huts, but the dwellings of the higher 
classes, the palace and the temples, were 
built of stone and lime and were quite com- 
modious and magnificent. 

Having learned that Montezuma had caus- 
ed an attack to be made on Vera Cruz, and 
that some of the garrison had been killed, 
Cortez began to feel alarmed on account of 
his own situation. The draw-bridges might 
be broken down, and, shut up in a hostile 
city, his army might be overwhelmed by the 
enemy. Reflecting on this danger, he re- 
solved on an expedient more daring than that 
of destroying his ships ; it was to seize Mon- 
tezuma and retain him as a hostage in the 
Spanish quarters. The officers of Cortez 
were astonished at the audacity of the pro- 
posed measure ; but he convinced them that 
it was the only course to secure them from 



28 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



destruction. At the usual hour of visiting 
Montezuma, Cortez repaired to the palace 
with five brave officers and as many trusty 
soldiers ; thirty chosen men sauntering along 
the street, as if without design, and the rest 
of the army prepared to sally out if necessa- 
ry. As the Spaniards entered the palace, 
the Mexican officers retired as usual out of 
respect, and Cortez sternly addressed Mon- 
tezuma, accusing him of instigating the at- 
tack on the garrison of Vera Cruz, and de- 
manding satisfaction. The monarch filled 
with astonishment asserted his innocence, 
and promised to have the officer who made 
the attack brought prisoner to Mexico. Cor- 
tez appeared to be in a measure satisfied on 
that point, but told him that the Spaniards 
would not be convinced that he did not har- 
bor hostile intentions towards them, unless as 
a proof of confidence, he would repair to 
their quarters, where he would be served by 
his own attendants and with his usual honors. 
Montezuma was filled with indignation and 
alarm, and remonstrated against such an un- 
reasonable demand. The parley continued 
for a long time, and Cortez vainly tried to 
make him comply, when at length Velasques 
de Leon, a bold and impetuous young man, 
impatiently exclaimed, ' Why waste more 
words on this barbarian ? Let us seize him 
instantly or stab him to the heart.' The 
threatening voice and looks and the fierce 
jestures with which this was uttered, intimi- 
dated Montezuma. He submitted to his 
fate, and surrounded by his attendants and 
bathed in tears, he was borne to the Spanish 
quarters. 

Q,ualpopoca, the commander in the attack 
on Vera Cruz, his son, and six of his princi- 
pal officers were given up to Cortez, tried by 
a court martial, condemned, and burnt alive 
in the presence of vast multitudes of the 
Mexicans, who looked on with silent amaze- 
ment and horror, at this refined barbarity of 
the Spaniards. 

Cortez not only detained the emperor a 
prisoner, but governed the country in his 



name and by his influence. The Spaniards 
sent out some of their number to visit the 
different provinces, deposed chiefs and ap- 
pointed others more subservient to their in- 
terests, and conducted as if already masters 
of the country. At length the spirit of Mon- 
tezuma had become so thoroughly subdued, 
that Cortez succeeded in inducing him to ac 
knowledge himself a tributary and vassal of 
the king of Spain. The unhappy monarch 
called together the chief men of his empire 
and stated to them his determination; he 
considered the Spaniards to be the race 
which their traditions had indicated would 
come among them to rule the land, and he 
would lay his crown at the feet of their sov- 
reign. But as he spoke, his utterance was 
choked with emotion ; tears and groans 
showed the depth of his anguish at this last 
and most humiliating condition to which a 
proud-spirited monarch. could be reduced. 

After all these indignities and hard re- 
quirements, Cortez endeavored to persuade 
Montezuma to adopt the religion of those 
who had robbed him of his kingdom. To 
this he would not yield ; and Cortez enraged 
at his obstinacy, commanded his men to 
throw down the idols in the temples. But 
the priests took up arms and roused the peo- 
ple to defend their temples from this sacri- 
lege. This insult to their deities was not to 
be endured, and the Mexicans now began to 
concert measures to expel these impious 
invaders. They consulted with each other 
and with the captive prince, who was still 
permitted to confer with his officers. Mon- 
tezuma, wishing to avoid bloodshed, advised 
Cortez to leave the city and country immedi- 
ately, or certain destruction would overtake 
him. Cortez pretended to acquiesce, but 
said, as his ships had been destroyed, he 
would need to wait to build new ones; which 
seemed very reasonable to Montezuma, and 
he accordingly used his influence to quiet his 
people. 

While thus alarmed at his situation in the 
city, Cortez was made acquainted with a more 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



29 



serious difficulty in another quarter. Valas- 
ques, the governor of Cuba, was indignant at 
the conduct oi Cortez in betraying his confi- 
dence and throwing off his authority. He 
fitted out a larger armament, of eighteen ves- 
sels, with eight hundred foot soldiers, eighty 
horsemen, and twelve cannon. The com- 
mand of this expedition was intrusted to 
Pamphilio Narvaez, who was to send Cortez 
prisoner to Cuba and then complete the con- 
quest of the country. 

In this embarrassing situation Cortez hard- 
ly knew what course to adopt. But his plan 
was soon formed and successfully executed. 
He left one hundred and fifty men under the 
command of Alvarado, to guard the royal 
prisoner and keep the city in subjection, and 
started for the coast with the remainder of 
his troops, which, when joined by the garri- 
son at Vera Cruz, did not exceed two hun- 
dred and fifty men. Cortez sent to Narvaez 
offers of accommodation, but the latter rely- 
ing on his superior numbers and -confident of 
victory, treated the proposals with contempt, 
and offered a reward for Cortez' head. Cor- 
tez having arrived at the bank of a river, Nar- 
vaez marched out to give him battle, but it 
being near night, the stream high, and the 
rain pouring down, the forces of Narvaez re- 
turned to their encampment at some distance, 
to enjoy their repose after the fatigues of the 
day. Cortez forded the river, and fell upon 
the enemy in the dead of night, and after a 
desperate struggle, in which Narvaez was 
wounded and made prisoner, they surrender- 
ed at discretion. 

Cortez treated the vanquished in the most 
friendly manner, offering to send them back 
to Cuba or take them into his service. In- 
fluenced by the prospect of wealth, and will- 
ing to serve under a commander of whose 
abilities they had just experienced such proof, 
all, except a few friends of Narvaez, joined 
the standard of the conqueror. Thus by the 
ability and energy of Cortez, that which 
threatened his ruin was turned to his great- 
est advantage. He now found himself at the 



head of one thousand Spaniards, and without 
fear of further molestation from Cuba. Hard- 
ly had the victory over Narvaez been achiev- 
ed, when a courier came bringing intelli- 
gence, that the Mexicans had risen upon the 
garrison in the capital, and threatened their 
destruction unless they were speedily reliev- 
ed. This outbreak was caused by the cru- 
elty and rapacity of the Spaniards, who, to 
obtain the rich ornaments with which they 
were adorned, slaughtered two thousand of 
the Mexican nobles, as they were engaged 
in a solemn festival in honor of their gods. — 
Some affirm that a conspiracy was on foot to 
destroy the garrison, and this massacre was 
an imitation of that at Cholula. 

Cortez hastened his march towards Mexi- 
co, and as he passed along the people desert- 
ed the villages, carrying off the provisions 
and showing other signs of hostility. In the 
capital, they had destroyed the two sail boats 
Cortez had built to command the lake, had 
burned the magazines, and were harrassing 
and besieging the Spaniards so closely, that 
they must have yielded ere long to the fury 
of the assailants. 

Cortez arrived, and astonishing as it may 
seem, the Mexicans had not removed any of 
the draw-bridges or taken other measures to 
prevent his entering the city. The garrison 
were overjoyed to see their countrymen again, 
and Cortez, elated with his recent success, 
and now having a considerable of a force, be- 
gan to treat the unfortunate Montezuma with 
contempt, and without disguise to intimate 
his design of subjugating the country. This 
conduct showed the Mexicans their true con- 
dition ; they must expel these invaders or be- 
come their abject slaves. Emboldened by 
their success in attacking the garrison and 
killing several of them, the Mexicans collect- 
ed in vast numbers and, the next day after 
Cortez arrived, they attacked the Spanish 
quarters with great impetuosity. The artil- 
lery swept down their thick ranks, but fresh 
multitudes supplied the place of those who 
had fallen, and pressed on with such fury 



30 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



that Cortez could hardly maintain his fortifi- 
cations against their assaults. The enemy 
having retired at night, according to their 
custom, Cortez prepared to sally out next 
day and drive them from the city, or j compel 
them to an accommodation. The Mexicans, 
led by their nobles and aroused . by their 
priests, opposed him with great bravery, and 
though Cortez cut his way wherever he went, 
the enemy pressed on him and fought with 
such desperation, that they killed twelve of 
his men, wounded sixty others, and obliged 
him to retire to his quarters. 

Alarmed at his situation, amidst an enraged 
population whose numbers were constantly 
increasing by additions from the adjoining 
country, Cortez now besought the interposi- 
tion of Montezuma to soothe his people. — 
When the Mexicans on the next morning ap- 
proached to renew the attack, this unfortn- 
nate prince, constrained to become the in- 
strument of his own disgrace, appeared on 
the battlements, clad in his royal robes, and 
endeavored to appease his people and dis- 
suade them from hostilities. At the sight of 
their monarch, the people bowed in rever- 
ence ; but when he ceased speaking a sullen 
murmur arose from the multitude; threats 
and imprecations followed, and indignation 
overcoming the respect for their sovereign, a 
shower of missiles fell upon the battlements , 
and before the Spaniards could raise their 
shields to protect him, he was wounded by 
two arrows, and the blow of a stone on his 
temple struck him to the ground. 

Seeing their monarch fall a sudden change 
came over the multitude. Smitten with re- 
morse and horror at the deed, they dropped 
their arms and fled as if the vengeance of 
Heaven were pursuing them. 

The Spaniards carried Montezuma to his 
apartments,. and Cortez endeavored to con- 
sole him. But his measure of wo was full, 
his ignominy was complete ; a slave to a for- 
eign ruler, a prisoner among his enemies, the 
object of vengeance and contempt to his own 
subjects. His proud spirit returning, he 



scorned to survive this last degree of degra- 
dation. In a transport of feeling he tore the 
bandages from his wound, refused to take 
any nourishment, and ended his wretched ex- 
istence, rejecting with disdain the solicita- 
tions of the Spaniards to embrace the chris- 
tian faith. 

The death of Montezuma terminated all 
hopes of peace with the Mexicans, and as the 
only means to escape destruction, Cortez re- 
solved on a speedy retreat. But the Mexi- 
cans took possession of the great temple, 
which overlooked the Spanish quarters, and 
rendered it impossible for the troops to ven- 
ture out without being exposed to the ene- 
mies missiles. A company of chosen men 
endeavoring to dislodge them were thrice re- 
pulsed. Cortez then put himself at the head 
of his bravest followers, succeeded in gaining 
the upper platform on the temple, where a 
desperate struggle and great slaughter of both 
parties ensued, Two young Mexicans sprang 
upon Cortez, intendiug to throw themselves 
and him from the edge of the tower, and thus 
sacrifice their lives for their country ; but 
with incredible exertion he disengaged him- 
self from their grasp, and they lost their own 
lives without effecting their object. 

Having taken the tower, Cortez prepared 
for retreat, and chose the night time to leave 
the city, hoping the Mexicans would not mo- 
lest them, as they had a superstitious dislike 
of fighting in the night. He was to pass the 
causeway to the west, that being the short- 
est. The draw-bridges being broken down 
he made a portable one to throw over the 
breaches. At midnight he led his army and 
allies out as silently as possible ; but the 
Mexicans had watched his movements ; the 
priests blew their horns and beat the great 
serpent-skin drum on the temple ; the whole 
city was in motion. While the retreating 
army was placing their portable bridge over 
the first breach, they were astonished by a 
tremendous shout, and the rush of canoes 
which covered the lake, and were assailed by 
a tempest of arrows and stones and other 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



31 



missiles. . Having passed the first breach, 
their dismay and confusion were increased 
by an unexpected difficulty. Their portable 
bridge had become wedged in the mud and 
stones, and it was impossible to remove it. — 
They defended themselves as well as they 
could against the furious assaults of the 
enemy, but their skill and superior weapons 
did not help them much, in the darkness of 
the night, and crowded together on the cause- 
way. They pressed on, amidst dreadful 
slaughter and confusion, and the dead bodies 
of their companions filling the breaches, they 
succeeded in passing the causeway and gain- 
ing the shore. 

Two thousand of the Tlascalan allies had 
perished; one half of the Spaniards were kill- 
ed, and many of the others wounded; their 
artillery, amunition, baggage and most of the 
horses were lost, together with the greater 
part of their ill-gotten treasures of silver and 
gold, which encumbered their persons and 
sunk many in the waves. When the light 
dawned upon the wretched remains of his 
army, even the stern Cortez could not sup- 
press his tears for the loss of so many of his 
friends and brave companions in arms. This 
has since been known by the name of the 
Nochc tristr, the doleful night. 

The Spaniards now continued their retreat 
towards Tlascala, as rapidly as their exhaust- 
ed condition, and want of food would permit 
their march through woods and swamps and 
a broken country, with occasional attacks 
from the pursuing enemy. On the sixth day, 
approaching near Otumba, numerous parties 
were seen hovering around, and Marina, the 
interpreter, said they often exultingly cried, 
' Go on, robbers, go to the place where you 
shall quickly meet the vengeance due to your 
crimes.' Arriving at the ridge of a moun- 
tain, they understood the import of these om- 
inous words ; the plain was covered by a 
countless multitude waiting to receive them. 
The Spaniards, without their fire-arms and 
in their miserable condition, were appalled 
at the siwht. But Cortez was still undaunt- 



ed ; he told them that there was no alterna- 
tive but to conquer or perish, and immedi- 
ately led them to the charge. In close array 
they cut their way amongst the dense mass- 
es, obliging them to give way, and covering 
the ground with dead. The undisciplined 
host fought bravely against superior skill and 
surer weapons, pressing forward in fresh 
numbers, and surrounding the little army, 
till the Spaniards, wearied with slaughter- 
ing, and covered with wounds, were on the 
point of being overwhelmed by numbers. — 
At this crisis, Cortez, seeing the Mexican 
standard near, and recollecting to have heard 
that on the fate of their banner depended the 
issue of a battle, rushed forward with a few 
of his bravest officers, struck down the gen- 
eral with a lance and seized the standard 
which he held. The effect was magical. — 
Their leader and banner lost, the Mexicans 
were panic-stricken, and fled to the moun- 
tains, leaving the field covered with rich 
booty. 

The next day the Spaniards arrived at 
Tlascala, where they were kindly received, 
notwithstanding their declining prospects and 
power. In spite of all his disasters, Cortez 
never once abandoned his design of conquer- 
ing the Mexican empire. He obtained am- 
munition and three field pieces from Vera 
Cruz, and despatched four of the vessels of 
Narvaez's fleet to Hispanipla and Jamaica, 
for more supplies and volunteers. He also 
set about building twelve brigantines, under 
the direction of a ship-carpenter who hap- 
pened to be in the army, to command the 
lake and aid in taking the capital. These 
were to be carried in pieces, sixty miles by 
land, and then put together and launched. — 
His men perceiving his intention of making 
another attempt on the city, were loud in 
their murmurs ; but the tact and eloquence 
of Cortez quieted their disaffection. 

Two vessels sent out to reinforce Narvaez, 
coming to Vera Cruz, their troops and crews 
were induced to join Cortez ; and the sea- 
men and soldiers of several other vessels ar 



32 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



riving on the coast, also united with the con- 
queror. He now found that he had five hun- 
dred and fifty foot soldiers, forty horsemen, 
and nine field pieces, together with a rein- 
forcement of ten thousand Tlascalans. With 
this force, without waiting for the vessels he 
had despatched to the islands, he started for 
Mexico, on the 28th of December, 1520, just 
six months after his retreat from the scene of 
his disasters. 

On the death of Montezuma, the Mexican 
chiefs had immediately elevated to the throne, 
Q,uetlavaca, his brother, who showed his abil- 
ity and bravery, by conducting those fierce 
attacks on the retreating Spaniards. While 
engaged in fortifying his capital against any 
other assault that might be made upon it, he 
was cut off by the small pox, which was then 
raging in the empire, and was one of the ca- 
lamities introduced by Europeans. ToQ,uet- 
lavaca succeeded Guatimozin, the nephew, 
and son-in-law of Montezuma, and the last 
emperor of the Aztec race. He was a young 
man, distinguished for his bravery and abili- 
ties, and was elected by unanimous consent. 

Cortez found some obstruction, trees and 
stone thrown across the roads, but continued 
his march without much difficulty, and fixed 
his head quarters in Tezcuco, the second 
town in the empire, about twenty miles from 
Mexico, on the opposite side of the lake. — 
This was a favorable place for launching his 
brigantines ; during the preparation of which, 
he subjected a number of towns in the neigh- 
borhood, thus weakening the Mexican power. 
At this time the lurking spirit of insubordi- 
nation again appeared among his men, and 
threatened to terminate his ambitious schemes 
at once. A small faction had entered into a 
conspiracy to assassinate Cortez, and confer 
the command on some one who would regard 
the safety of the army rather than his own 
aggrandisement. On the d?y when this was 
to be executed, one of his friends, who had 
been seduced into the measure, disclosed the 
plot to Cortez, who seized and executed the 
ringleader, Villefragua, and thus terminated 
the affair. 



The materials for the fleet being complet- 
ed, Cortez despatched a body of Spaniards as 
an escort in their transportation. Eight 
thousand Tamanes, or porters, were furnished 
by the Tlascalans to carry the timber, planks, 
and the rigging saved from the vessels de- 
stroyed at Vera Cruz. As a protection to 
the Tamanes, fifteen thousand Tlascalan 
warriors accompanied. This immense and 
strange convoy arrived safe at Tezcuco; 
and about the same time the four vessels, 
which had been sent to Hispaniola, returned 
with two hundred soldiers, eighty horses, 
two battering cannon, and a supply of amuni- 
tion and arms. Thus- things began to wear 
a more favorable aspect for the invaders. 
On the 28th of Aprd, the brigantines were 
launched with military pomp and religous 
ceremonies. The troops and allies were 
drawn up upon the bank, mass was said, and 
asthe vessels dropped down the canal into the 
lake, father Olmedo blessed them, 'and gave 
each its name. As they hoisted sail and 
bore away before the wind, shouts of joy 
went up from the ranks of the Spaniards, 
while dismay was depicted in the countenance 
of the Mexicans, at the sight of these strange 
and formidable engines, moving with their 
white wings over their waters; hitherto 
skimmed only by the light canoe. 

Though small and rudely constructed, the 
vessels were appalling objects to the Mex- 
icans, and justly too, since they deprived 
them of the advantage of the insular position 
of the city. Hence Guatimozin determined, 
if possible to destroy them. He assembled a 
vast multitude of canoes thinking to make up 
in number what they lacked in size. With 
these the Mexicans advanced to engage the 
brigantines, which, on account of a dead 
calm, remained almost motionless ; but sud- 
denly a breeze sprung up, the sails were 
spread, the vessels broke through the crowds 
of canoes, oversetting many and scattering 
the whole armament, with such destruction 
of the Mexicans as convinced them that the 
superiority of their enemies was greater on 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



33 



water than they had hitherto found it on land. 
Being master of the lake, Cortez prepared 
to commence the seige with vigor. He 
divided his forces, and stationed them at the 
extremities of the causeways, allotting to 
each a number of the sail boats, to assist in the 
operations and communicate between the 
stations. During the day the Spaniards 
would force their way over the breast-works 
thrown across the causeways, and, filling up 
the gaps of the drawbridges, would pass them 
and drive the Mexicans before them ; but 
they retreated at the close of the day, not 
daring to quarter in the city, for fear of being 
overwhelmed by the multitudes of the enemy. 
At night the Mexicans cleared the trenches, 
and repaired the barricades that had been 
thrown down ; and when the assaults were 
renewed next morning, they disputed the 
ground with the greatest bravery against the 
Spaniards. A month had passed without 
any decisive result; on land, on water, by 
night and by day one furious conflict suc- 
ceeded another, and each party fought as if 
determined to conquer or perish. 'At length 
Cortez, astonished at the obstinacy of the 
Mexicans, resolved to attempt by a great and 
bold effort to get possession of the city. He 
made a general assault at the three points of at- 
tack, with his whole force, and pushing on 
with irresistable impetuosity, they forced 
their way over one barricade after another, 
and penetrated into the city. But the officer 
ordered to fill up the trenches, and keep the 
command of the same, to secure a retreat in 
case it should become necessary, having 
neglected that duty and joined in the conflict, 
Gautimozin, availing himself of this mistake, 
suffered the Spaniards to advance into the 
heart of the town, when the sound of the 
great drum of the temple consecrated to the 
god of war, was heard as a signal for action ; 
the whole population rushed with frantic 
fury to the scene of strife, and fell on their 
invaders with irresistable impetuosity ; the 
Spaniards at first retired slowly and in order ; 
but when they arrived at the breach in the 



causeway, where the Mexicans had concen- 
trated a large force to intercept their retreat, 
being pressed on all sides, they were thrown 
into confusion, and horse and foot, Spaniards - 
and Tlascalans, plunged promiscuously into 
the gap. The Mexicans, encouraged by 
success, pressed furiously upon them from all 
quarters ; their canoes covered the lake, and 
the causeway both before and behind was 
blocked up with their warriors. C irtcz him- 
self was seiged by several of them, but by 
his utmost efforts and the aid of two of his 
men who lost their lives to save his, he tore 
himself from their grasp. After incredible 
exertions, the Spaniards forced their way 
through the multitudes of their enemies, with 
the loss of more than twenty killed and forty 
taken prisoners. 

These last unhappy victims were sacrificed 
the following night to the god of war, as a 
horrid triumph. The whole city was il- 
luminated ; by the glare of the fires on the 
temple, the Spaniards could see the dreadful 
preparations ; their ears were appalled at the 
sound of the great drum announcing the 
bloody orgies, and they^ were filled with 
grief and horror by the shrieks of their com- 
panions, about to be immolated to the dia- 
bolical deities of their enemies. The heads 
of the victims were sent to the different pro- 
vinces, and exhibited, with the declaration 
that the god of war, appeased by the blood of 
their enemies, had declared that in eight 
days their invaders should be destroyed, and 
peace restored to the empire. The success 
of the Mexicans, together with this confident 
prediction, had a magic effect, and the people 
flocked in from all quarters, to assist in con- 
quering a hated foe, whom the gods had 
decreed to destroy. Cortez stationed his 
troops under the protection of his ships, 
which kept the enemy at a distance until the 
eight days had expired ; and such was the in- 
fluence of superstition, that most of his allies, 
in the mean time, deserted him ; but after the 
fatal period had elapsed, and the Spaniards 
still being safe, they were ashamed of their 



34 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



credulity, and returned to their stations. 

Although Cortez now found himself in 
possession of a numerous force of Indians, 
yet past experience taught him to adopt a 
new and more safe mode of carrying on the 
siege. He made slow but gradual advances; 
his Indian allies repaired the causeways as 
he advanced, and as the Spaniards got pos- 
session of any part of the city, their allies 
were employed in levelling the houses to the 
ground. Thus they compelled the Mexicans 
daily to retire, and gradually circumscribed 
the limits of the town. The immense multi- 
tude which had assembled in the city, con- 
sumed the supplies of provisions, and they 
were suffering the horrors of famine within, 
while assailed by the enemy from without. 
Cortez frequently sent proposals to Guatimo- 
zin to surrender and save the city, but he in- 
dignantly rejected the idea of submission. 

Having the command of the lake, and 
from the numerous body of his Indian allies, 
Cortez was enabled to cut off all communica- 
tions with the city. Three quarters of it 
were reduced to ashes, when at length the 
three divisions of the Spaniards penetrated 
into the great central square, and established 
a secure position. The fate of the city was 
now decided, as it was evident that what re- 
mained, being assailed from more advan- 
tagious stations, could hold out but a short 
time. At this crisis the chiefs and nobles 
prevailed on Guatimozin to retire to the pro- 
vinces and attempt to arouse the' people ; 
and to facilitate his escape, they opened a 
negotiation for peace with Cortez. But the 
latter, too vigilant to be deceived, had given 
strict orders to watch the lake and suffer no 
canoes to pass. The officer to whom this 
duty was assigned, observing several large 
canoes crossing the lake with rapidity, or- 
dered a swift-sailing brigantine in pursuit, 
which as it neared them was about firing, 
when all the rowers in an instant dropped 
their oars, and rising and throwing up their 
hands, besought them not to fire, as the 
Emperor was on board. Guatimozin sur- 



rendered himself with dignity, and only re- 
quested that no insult might be offered to the 
Empress, or his children. When brought 
into the presence of Cortez, he behaved with 
a degree of composure and dignity tha.t would 
have done honor to any monarch on earth. 
Addressing himself to Cortez, he said, ' I 
have done what became a monarch ; I have 
defended my people to the last extremity. 
Nothing now remains but to die. Take this 
dagger, (laying his hand on one which Cortez 
wore,) plant it in my breast, and put an end 
to a life which can no longer be of any use.' 
Previous to his leaving the city he had caused 
all his treasures to be thrown into the lake. 
The siege lasted seventy-five days. The city 
being usually populous, and multitudes of 
people and warriors having crowded in from 
all quarters to defend their sovereign and 
capital, the destructiqn by famine and slaugh- 
ter was immense ; the lowest estimate being 
one hundred and twenty thousand lives. 
The capture of the sovereign terminated the 
struggle, and the city and empire fell into the 
hands of the conquerors, August 13th, 1521. 
The seige of Mexico was by far the most ex- 
traordinary and memorable military effort in 
the conquest of America. The exertions, 
bravery, perseverance, and astonishing ex- 
ploits of Cortez and his followers, are unex- 
ampled. Yet it is not to be supposed that 
the Mexican empire, comprising a vast popu- 
lation, in a considerable state of improvement, 
was conquered by a few hundred Spaniards ; 
its conquest was effected by internal disaffec- 
tions and divisions, and the jealousy of its 
neighbors who dreaded its power, the oppres- 
sion of which they had often experienced. 

The excessive joy of the Spaniards was 
changed to murmurs, when they learnt the 
small amount of treasure which had fallen 
into their hands ; and such was their rage 
and disappointment, that Cortez was obliged 
to give way to it, and suffer Guatimozin to be 
put to the torture, to compel him to discover 
the royal treasures which they supposed he 
had concealed. And with such dignity and 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO 



35 



fortitude did he endure the torture, that when 
the anguish and pain was at its height, and 
his fellow-sufferer seemed, by his looks, to 
ask permission to reveal what he knew, the 
royal victim, with a look of authority and 
scorn reproached him for his weakness, by 
asking, 'Am / now reposing on a bed of 
flowers ? ' After this reproof his fellow-suffer- 
er remained silent, and expired under the 
torture of men calling themselves Christians. 
Cortez ashamed of what he had done, inter- 
fered and rescued the royal victim from the 
hands of his persecutors. 

The account of Cortex's victories and con- 
quests, which were sent to Spain, filled his 
countrymen with admiration, and excited the 
highest expectations with the people and the 
government. Charles V. who had succeeded 
to the throne, appointed Cortez captain-gen- 
eral of New Spain ; and before he received 
any legal sanction, he had assumed the pow- 
er of governor, and adopted measures to 
secure the vast country he had conquered 
to his sovereign, as a colony of Spain. He 
determined to rebuild the capital, and there 
to establish the seat of his government ; he 
commenced the work on an extended and 
regular plan, and laid the foundations of one 
of the most magnificent cities in the new 
world. He caused examinations to be made 
for mines, opened some, and encouraged 
his countrymen to settle in the remote pro- 
vinces. • 

The Mexicans conquered and degraded as 
they were, did not quietly submit to their 
new masters ; but aroused by oppression and 
despair, they often, with more courage than 
discretion, rushed to arms, and were not only 
defeated in every contest, but the Spaniards, 
regarding these attempts to regain their 
liberty as rebellion against their lawful sove- 
reign, put the caciques and nobles, who fell 
into their hands, to death, and reduced the 
common people to the most humiliating and 
degrading servitude. Massacre and blood- 
shed continued to mark the progress of the 
Spaniards over the land. In the country of 



Panuco, sixty caciques, or leaders and four 
hundred nobles, were burnt at one time, 
while their children and relatives were com- 
pelled to look on and witness their dying 
agonies. The brave and unfortunate Guati- 
mozin, on suspicion of exciting his country- 
men to revolt, was hanged on a tree, in the 
presence of his people, who witnessed the 
scene with grief and horror, being accus- 
tomed to reverence their sovereign almost as 
a deity.' 

Cortez, though at first admired and caressed 
by his countrymen and sovereign, and in- 
vested with the government of the country he 
had conquered, soon became the object of 
envy, calumny, and suspicion, and like 
Columbus and others who have done great 
services for their country, he was rewarded 
by neglect and ingratitude. The title of 
Marquis was conferred upon him, and ample 
possessions in the new dominions were se- 
cured to himself and his heirs, but he was de-' 
prived of the government of the colony, 
subjected to malignant accusations and vexa- 
tions and mortyfing persecutions ; and while 
waiting in Spain, whither he had gone to 
seek redress of his greivances from his sove- 
reign, he ended his days on the second of 
December, 1547. 

' When we look at the conquest of Mexi- 
co,' says M. Chevalier, ' under political and 
religious aspects, it presents features of great 
interest, but in other points of view also it is 
interesting. We seem in its history to read 
an epic poem or chivalric romance. So vast 
and stupendous are its incidents and events, 
the men appear gigantic, and the miraulous 
enters into its composition. To form an idea 
of the grandeur of the events, we have only 
to retrace what was achieved. An adventur- 
er, who left Cuba with a handful of soldiers, 
dares to attack an empire evidently populous 
and brave, whose sovereign was feared by 
every one, and had among his vassals 139 
tributaries, each of whom could bring into 
the field 100,000 armed men. Cortez not 
only compelled it to recognize as its sove~ 



36 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



reign, his master Charles V., but to abandon 
its religion, the greatest sacrifice a people 
can be called on to make. He willed it, 
dared to attempt it, and succeeded within the 
space of thirty months. 

' But the distinguishing character of the 
conquest was derived from its religious pro- 
pagandism. In our days the love of glory 
and devotion to liberty excite men to great 
actions. The ruling passion of the Spaniards 
of that era was the advancement of the holy 
faith. They were, as it were, possessed of 
this idea. A motive powerful as this was re- 
quired to produce, even in such a nature as 
Cortez, the achievements he performed. 
Those who say such heroism was inspired by 
avarice, are either ignorant of, or calumniate 
human nature. I have attempted to restore 
to the conquest its true character, and to at- 
tribute to Cortez and his companions their 
true motives. My object has been not mere- 
ly to define the truth of an isolated historical 
event, but to recall to an age little prone to 
faith, what true religious zeal is capable of. 
It alone gives us the key to Mexican history 
down to the present time, and of the present 
condition of this vast empire. In it alone 
rests the secret of its rapid decay, and equal- 
ly rapid possible regeneration. Cortez was 
one of those giants who gave such violent im- 
pulse to nations they interfere with, that cen- 
turies must pass before they can recover from 
the blow. His personal character is imprint- 



ed on the features of Mexico, even on insti- 
tutions which arose after he had passed from 
the stage. This beautiful country is exclu- 
sively Catholic, and its inhabitants, thorough- 
ly imbued with the spirit of CathoJicism, have 
no prospects in advance separate from their 
faith. Persons who have sojourned among 
them and studied their nature, are doubtful 
whether they will retrocede into barbarity, 
or will undergo a new conquest by a Protes- 
ant race which promises to itself the empire 
of the world, and which is now inflamed by 
the possession of Texas : or whether they 
will remain free, and progress in the pathway 
of civilization. We may believe from the 
rank occupied by Mexico in the New World, 
that, all the republics which were Spanish 
colonies will follow its destiny, whatever it 
may be. The question here, which a few 
years will suffice to solve for Mexico, and the 
resolution of which ft of great import to the 
whole of the new continent, is more closely 
connected than is generally conceived with 
the vaster one; viz., whether the genius of 
Catholicism, when in close contact with that 
of Protestantism, can preserve its position, or 
whether in our times Catholicism can restore 
a healthy tone to a people struck with the 
languor of decay.' 



Note. In preparing the foregoing chapter, 
the author has been much indebted to Dr. 
Robertson's excellent History of the Conquest, 
and to a summary ot the same in the work of 
Mr. Niles. ♦ 




GREAT TEMPLE DEDICATED TO THE SUN, 

DESTROYED BY CORTEZ IN 1521. 

It was finished and dedicated in 1486. It was a place for worship and human sacrifice. Sixty thousand victims perished at 
5 dedication, and every part of it was bathed in human blood. It occupied the centre of the city, now the Great Square. It 
as a triple pyramid, with a place for sacrifice on the top. It was surrounded by a stone wall eight feet thick, crowned with 
tttlaments and ornamented with figures in the form of serpents. The interior of the inclosnre was paved with polished por- 
lyry, and was spacious enough to contain 500 houses. The wall had {onr gates, and over each was a military arsenaL From, 
e eentre arose th^ great Teocallis, or Temple. The great Cathedral now occupies its place. 



CHAPTER III. 



SPANISH DOMINION— REVOLUTION— THE REPUBLIC. 



Viceroys, Council of Government. Municipal Corporations. Laws of the Colony. Mil- 
itary Force. Commerce. Literature and Education. Agriculture. The Church. — 
The War of Independence — Causes that led to it. Events in Spain. Buonaparte 
siezes the Spanish Crown. The Priest Hidalgo commences the Revolution of Blexico. — 
Other Leaders. Independence Declared. Iturbide mcide Emperor. Plan of Govern- 
ment. Biographical Sketch of Iturbide. Federal Republican Constitution. General 
Victoria. Independence acknowledged by the United States and Great Britain. Vio- 
lence of Parties. Masonary. Santa Anna commences his Public Career — Defeats 
the last Invading Army of Spain. Central Government Established. Bustament. 
Gomez Fariar. More Revolutions. Santa Anna Dictator. Constitution of 1843. — 
Last Constitution, of 1847. Retrospective View. 



Like most of the larger colonies of Spain, 
Mexico was governed by Viceroy, who with- 
in his own limits, exercised all the functions 
of a king, and with hardly greater responsi- 
bility or restriction. He was provided with 
a council of war and a legal adviser ; but 
as they were of his. own choosing, the cer- 
emony of consulting them, was probably, 
merely formal. The only immediate deposit- 
ary of power, besides the Viceroy, was a 
council called the 'Audiencia.' This body 
was composed exclusively of European Span- 
iards, and invested With a control over all 
other tribunals in the country, ecclesiastical 
as well as civil. It enjoyed immediate cor- 
respondence with the sovereign, and with 
the ' Council of the Indies,' a Spanish board 
who had the goverment of the American 



colonies, in their immediate charge. The 
Viceroy was, ' ex-officio,' a member of the 
Audiencia, and thus effectually controlled its 
action, so far as it was likely to affect his 
own interests. The only remaining civil 
bodies, which it is important to mention, are 
the municipal corporations, entitled ' Cabil- 
dos' or ' Ayuntamicntos.' These closely re- 
sembled the municipal corporations of Euro- 
pean towns, at a corresponding period. From 
the number and wealth of their members, 
they exercised considerable influence ; es- 
pecially during the later years of the colonial 
administration. Each town had a superintend- 
ing magistrate called an ' Alcalde.' The 
laws by which the colony was professedly 
governed, were entitled, ' Recopilacion 
de las Leyes de las Indias,' a compilation of 



40 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



decrees of the kings of Spain, and of the 
Council of the Indies, massed together with- 
out much regard to order or consistency. 
As is usual in all absolute governments, it is 
probable that the Viceroy and others in 
authority, made a shift to dispense with laws 
on many occasions, and fell back upon their 
own abstract notions of justice or expediency. 
Thus it was a law that all offices should be 
equally open to all citizens whether of Euro- 
pean or of native birth, but in point of fact, 
all offices from the highest to the lowest 
were bestowed on foreigners. Out of 50 
Viceroys who held that office from 1535 to 
J 80S, only one was born in America, and 
he was a Peruvian. 

The military force of the colony consisted 
of Spanish regulars, and native militia; but 
it was never large, as, under the Viceroys, 
the nation was not a war-like one. Commerce 
was permitted only with Spain, and then 
under many restrictions, and was confined to 
certain particular ports, and to a limited num- 
ber of vessels. At a later day, licenses to 
trade with foreign nations, were granted at 
exorbitant prices, and met with the abuse, 
to which arbitrary commercial restrictions 
always give rise. The consequence was a 
system of smuggling, the most open and suc- 
cessful, which the history of commerce has 
ever recorded. With Spaniards smuggling 
is a second nature, and it needs no great 
temptation to induce them to incur its haz_ 
ards. The ' contrabandista' is to this day 
the hero of the Peninsula — half robber half 
merchant. 

Literature and education were placed un- 
der the fostering care of the Inquisition; an 
institution quite essential to a government 
of this sort, and which took easy and firm 
root in Mexico. The tenderness of this 
spiritual guardian for the souls of those 
placed under her charge, was so great as to 
leave nothing free, which could by any pos- 
sibility contaminate them. As , at as late a 
period as 1806, there was but one printing 
press in Mexico, the dangers of domestic in- 



cendiarism were not very great ; but all 
books imported were subjected to a rigid 
censorship, and carefully purified of any ap- 
proaches to political or religious heresy. 

Agriculture, even, was not allowed full 
freedom in the New World. The commer- 
cial restrictions to which I have alluded, 
effectually excluded the exportation of any- 
thing but the precious metals ; and the col- 
onists were even prohibited from cultivating 
anything, which was a subject of profitable 
exportation from the mother country. Vine- 
yards, which the enterprise of some native 
proprietors had planted, were rooted up, by 
order of the goverment, because the Spanish 
\Vine merchants complained of a reduction 
of their profits. If to these grievances be 
added oppressive taxes of every sort which 
the avarice or wants of an expensive and 
grasping government could devise, we shall 
see nothing particularly to admire in the 
colonial adminstration of Mexico. The 
Church though Catholic, was not, as in other 
Catholic countries, dependant immediately 
upon the See of Rome. The Spanish 
monarchs seem to have profited by the pru- 
dent example of Henry VIII. and thought 
it a wise step, to divert the flow of treasure 
from the coffers of the Italian Pontiff, into 
their own. They did not, however, like the 
sturdy and godless sovereign of England, 
disclaim obedience to the Pope in things 
spiritual, but merely established a species of 
factorship or brokerage, between him and 
their colonial subjects. The commissions 
on sales, in Mexico, of bulls and indulgences, 
formed a principal item in the revenue of the 
Spanish crown. Unlike other commodities, 
the market was never glutted with them, 
although 'forced sales' were very usual. 
Such was the condition of Mexico until the 
beginning of the present century, t It had 
long been established as a principle,' says 
a clever writer on this period, ' that to sup- 
ply Spain with the greatest quantity of the 
precious metals, and to gratify her nobility 
and influential persons by lucrative situations 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



41 



for themselves, or their dependants, were the 
only purposes for which these countries could 
be rendered available, without endangering 
the perpetuity of the dominion over them.' 

The first manifestations of a revolutionary 
spirit in Mexico, were visible near the begin- 
ning of the present century, but for several 
years, they were attended with no serious 
results, and are hardly worth recording. 
Events which occurred in Europe, gave the 
first decided and general impulse to the 
cause of Independence. Napoleon had be- 
come master of central and western Europe, 
and in May 1808, Charles IV. king of Spain, 
and his son Ferdinand VII., were forced to 
resign the Spanish crown, for themselves and 
their descendants ; and it was soon after be- 
stowed upon Joseph Buonaparte, the Em- 
peror's brother. The new dynasty was by- 
no means acceptable to the Spanish nation at 
large, and a vigorous opposition at once 
sprang up, in support of the interest of the 
late reigning family. For the same end, 
Juntas, or Councils of direction, were organ- 
ized throughout the Peninsula. 

A ' Supreme Central Junta,' composed of 
deputies from the smaller bodies, finally as- 
sembled at Seville, proclaimed Ferdinand 
VII, then in captivity, king, and demanded 
obedience to themselves in his name. Don 
Jose Iturrigaray was at this time Viceroy 
of Mexico. On receiving intelligence of the 
political changes in Spain, he avowed his 
determination of adhering to the fortunes of 
his late sovereign, and in pursuance of that 
intention, he proclaimed the authority ot the 
Supreme Central Junta. The disturbed 
state of affairs in Europe presented to the 
Mexicans a favorable opportunity of advanc- 
ing their own interest, and the ' Ayun- 
tamiento' of the capital, seconded by the 
municipalities of the other principal towns in 
the country, petitioned Jhe Viceroy for the 
formation of a separate Junta in Mexico, to 
be composed of deputies from their several 
corporations. Iturrigaray was disposed to 
accede to their wish, but before the proposi- 



tion could be acted upon, the 'Audiencia' 
interposed, arrested the Viceroy, and sent 
him a prisoner to Spain. Meanwhile they 
assumed the reins of government by virtue 
of the authority vested in them by the Coun- 
cil of the Indies. The supreme Junta ap- 
proved of these bold measures, and con- 
firmed the authority of the Audiencia until a 
new Viceroy should be appointed. The 
native and popular party had now just cause 
of offence, and the seeds of rebellion once 
sown began rapidly to germinate. The 
Spanish residents made common cause with 
each other, and set up the most arrogant 
pretentions to an exclusive right of governing 
the colony, a right which the law of preemp- 
tion certainly gave them. It was a sayinc 
with one of these gentry, which well express- 
es the feeling of his countrymen, that ' while 
a Manchy's mule, or a Castilian cobbler re- 
mained in the Peninsula, he had a right to 
govern the Americans.' 

The supreme Junta in Spain finding their 
own inefficiency to fulfil the duties they had 
assumed, resigned their authority into the 
hands of a Regency, of five persons, who 
were to hold it until a Cortes or General 
Convention of Delegates, could be assembled 
to settle the government on a more perma- 
nent basis. The regency sent to the colonies, 
requesting them to choose delegates to the 
Cortes ; a request to which no attention was 
given. In the summer of 1810, a new Vice- 
roy, Don Francisco Xavier Vanegas, arrived 
in Mexico, having been appointed by the 
Regency. He began with a determination 
to put down all insubordination by force; 
and the measures which he pursued were of 
a character to alienate, still further, the 
popular party. 

At length, in September following his 
arrival, the fires of iusurrection burst into a 
flame. Don Miguel Hidalgo, curate of the 
village of Dolores in the province of Guan- 
axuato, about two hundred miles N. W. of 
the city of Mexico, headed the revolt. Rais- 
ing a standard, on which was painted a 



42 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



figure of the ' Virgin of Guadaloupe,' the 
guardian saint of Mexico, he gathered round 
him great numbers of his parishioners, and 
other native citizens, until they amounted to 
a large army. His first enterprises met 
with brilliant success, Guanaxuato, and 
Guadalajara, two of the most considerable 
cities north of Mexico, and capitals of Pro- 
vinces, fell into his hands. The city of 
Mexico even was threatened, and would have 
probably been taken, but for an unaccount- 
able timidity which induced Hidalgo to re- 
treat. The government, having thus had 
time to rally, met the insurrection vigorously. 
The royal troops soon found opportunity to 
display the superiority of a disciplined corps, 
over badly armed, and undiscliplined recruits. 
The insurgents were defeated, with great 
loss, at the battle of the Bridge of Caideron ; 
and early in 1811, Hidalgo was betrayed by 
some of his followers and shot. 

In the meantime, the Cortes summoned by 
the Regency in Spain, met in the autumn of 
1810. No deputies appearing from America, 
substitutes were appointed, and the delibera- 
tions of the body were commenced. Acts 
were passed, giving new privileges to the 
colonies, with the hope of reclaiming them 
by concessions. In 1812 a new Constitution, 
for Spain and her dependencies, was framed 
by the Cortes ; by which equal privileges 
were to be granted to Spaniards on both 
sides of the Atlantic ; and all persons were to 
be regarded as Spaniards, within the purview 
of the law. who had no African blood in 
their veins. The functions of the govern- 
ment were distributed, after the most ap- 
proved manner, into Executive, Legislative, 
and Judicial, and the freedom of the press 
was guaranteed. The Constitution went into 
operation in Mexico, but failed of the de- 
sired effect. The Insurgents still continued 
under arms, various efficient leaders having 
sprung up after the death of Hidalgo. 

The most prominent among them were 
Generals Rayon, Victoria, Guerrero, the 
Bravos, and the Priests Morelos and Meta- 



moros. Morelos was taken prisoner a few 
years afterwards and shot; Victoria, Guerrero, 
and one of the Bravos' figure conspicuously 
in the later history of the country. A na- 
tional Junta or Congress was formed by the 
revolutionists, and the independence of Mex- 
ico was declared by this body, on the 13th of 
November 1813, at Chilpanzingo, a town in 
the Province of Mexico. The basis of the 
Declaration was the acknowledgement of 
Ferdidand VII. as a king of the new Empire, 
provided he would assume the crown in per- 
son, and reside among his subjects. It is 
hardly necessary to say, that the proposition 
'was not seriously entertained, by that Prince 
or his representatives. On his restoration 
to the throne in 1814, his first act was to 
annul the Constitution of 1812, but in 1819, 
he was forced to yield to the popular desire, 
and re-establish it. Its operation in Mexico 
was, on both occasions of its proclamation, 
altogether unfavorable to Spain, and en- 
couraging to the hopes of the independent 
party. From 1813 to 1820, no important 
successes were gained by the insurgents. 
They were constantly in arms, however, 
traversing the country in small bands, but 
acting without concert and often probably 
with no higher motive than to rob and devas- 
tate. Several of their leaders were men of 
patriotic sentiments, who had the interests of 
their country at heart. The most prominent 
and upright among them, General Victona, 
in 1818, abandoned the cause in disgust, and 
retired to the mountains, where he remained 
until the revolution of 1821, leading a life of 
privation and solitude, without ever seeing a 
human face, or approaching a human habita- 
tion. In 1816 the revolutionists were 
strengthened by the accession of General 
Mina, a young Spanish liberal, who had been 
obliged to leave Spain on account of his share 
in the late wars of the Peninsula, and 
who, on his way, took with him a body of 
about four hundred adventurers from the 
United States. His successes, however, 
were of short duration, as in a few months 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



43 



after his landing, he was taken and shot. 
The exertions of a new Viceroy, Apodaca, 
who had been appointed in 1816, had re- 
stored the country to a state of comparative 
tranquility, when in 1820 the Spanish Con- 
stitution was a second time promulgated. 

The effect of the new elections under it 
was even more disastrous to the government 
than before. The Viceroy saw his danger, 
and determined to hazard the bold step of re- 
storing the absolute authority of his sovereign, 
as it existed before the Constitution. In this 
measure he was supported by the Clergy, who 
are rarely favorable to the extension of popu- 
lar privileges, and whose extraordinary immu- 
nities had been somewhat abridged by the ac- 
tion of the Spanish Cortes. The Spanish 
forces in the country did not amount to more 
than five hundred troops, the most efficient 
corps of the royal army, being the native 
troops under the command of Colonel Au- 
gustine Iturbide. 

This officer had taken a very prominent 
part in the revolution, as one of the royalist 
leaders, ever since the time of Hidalgo. He 
was a native of the country, young and en- 
thusiastic, and possessing more influence 
over his countrymen, than any person in the 
employ of the government. For some cause, 
which is not explained, he had been sus- 
pended from his command in 1816, and re- 
mained in private life, until recalled by Apo- 
daca in 1820. It is said that in the interval 
he was in correspondence with the revolution- 
ists, who held out great inducements to him 
to join their ranks. However this may have 
been, it is certain that he took every occa- 
sion to extend his influence with the common 
people, and the Clergy, with whom he was al- 
ready a favorite. On his recall to the army 
in February, 1821, the Viceroy entrusted him 
with the command of the Expedition against 
the patriot general, Guerrero, in the South. 
A favorable opportunity was thus presented, 
for carrying into effect the ambitious schemes 
which he had, doubtless, long cherished. Be- 
fore proceeding far upon his expedition, and 



without meeting the enemy, he proposed to 
his officers a plan for the future government 
of Mexico, which has been since known as 
the ' Plan of Iguala," from the name of the 
village where it was first promulgated. The 
basis of the plan was the three following pro- 
positions, viz : 

1. ' That Mexico should form an indepen- 
dent empire, the crown of which should be 
offered to the king of Spain, and in the event 
of his refusal, to the other princes of his fam- 
ily in succession ; upon condition that the 
person accepting it should reside in the coun- 
try, and should swear to observe a constitu- 
tion to be fixed by a Congress.' 

2. ' That the Roman Catholic religion 
should be supported, and the rights, immuni- 
ties, and property of its clergy should be pre- 
served and secured.' 

3. ' That all the actual inhabitants of Mex- 
ico, whatever might be their birth-place or 
descent, should enjoy the same civil rights.' 

These propositions, which were entitled 
the ' Three Guaranties,' met with an enthu- 
siastic reception from the army, which im- 
mediately assumed the name of 'the aimy of 
the Three Guaranties.' The insurgents 
readily fell into the plan of Iturbide, which 
was, in fact, substantially the same as that 
proposed by their own Junta, several years 
before. His army was swelled by the acces- 
sion of Guerrero and his followers ; and the 
self-exiled Victoria came down from his 
mountains, to add his powerful influence to a 
cause which had received so great an im- 
petus. Col. Bustamente, twice since a Pres- 
ident of the Republic, pronounced in its fa- 
vor, with his regiment at San Luis Potosi ; 
and Santa Anna, at this time a young officer, 
and who now for the first time appears upon 
foe stage, did the same at Vera Cruz. The 
enthusiasm was general, and the Spanish 
party was powerless to oppose it. At this 
juncture Apodaca was superceded by the ap- 
pointment of General O'Donoju, with the title 
of 'Captain General.' Finding it utterly im- 
possible to stem the popular tide, the new 



44 

governor entered into a convention with Itur- 
bide on the 24th of August, at Cordova, a 
town in the province of Vera Cruz. The re- 
sult of this meeting was a treaty, by which 
the Spanish representative acknowledged the 
Independence of Mexico, on the basis of the 
' Plan of Iguala.' In pursuance thereof, 
Commissioners were sent to Spain, to an- 
nounce the treaty to Ferdinand VII., and 
request his acceptance of the throne. A re- 
gency was meanwhile appointed, with Itur- 
bide at its head, and a Cortes summoned to 
form a constitution. The army still remained 
in command of Iturbide, who now united in 
his own person, the highest civil and milita- 
ry functions. The Cortes, or Congress, as it 
was usually called after this time, met 
in February, 1822, and the members were 
severally sworn to support the ' Plan of Igua- 
la.' There was, however, a great division 
of sentiment among them, and they soon set- 
tled down into three parties ; the Republicans, 
who favored a form of government, like that of 
the United States ; the Bourbonists, who were 
for carrying out the Plan of Iguala literally, 
and seating a Bourbon prince upon the 
throne ; and the Iturbidists, who were for 
bestowing the crown of the new empire upon 
their favorite general. 

The Plan of Iguala and treaty of Cordova, 
had meantime been received in Spain, and 
met with the rejection, which had doubtless 
been anticipated. The treaty was declared 
void, and energetic measures, which a total 
want of resources did not permit them to ex- 
ecute, threatened. 

The rejection of their proposals added 
great strength to the party of Iturbide, and 
he was, on the 18th of May, 1822, pro- 
nounced Emperor by the acclamations of the 
people, with the title of Augustine First. 
The Congress ratified the popular choice, 
but the leaders of the revolution, Bravo, Gu- 
errero and Victoria, withdrew with their par- 
tizans in discontent. Santa Anna alone 
sided with the new Emperor. But his reign 
was not destined to be of long or tranquil 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



duration. There is some disagreement as to 
the causes which led to its downfall. Cer- 
tain it is, that Iturbide soon quarrelled with 
his Congress and principal ministers. That 
he had good reason to suspect their fidelity 
to himself, is highly probable. For some rea- 
son of this sort, Santa Anna was suspended 
in his command at Vera Cruz, and ordered 
to appear at the capital. Instead of obeying 
the order, he placed himself at the head of 
his garrison, and pronounced against the Em- 
peror, in favor of a republican government. 
He was soon joined by Victoria, and even per- 
suaded Echavarri, the imperial general sent 
out by Iturbide to oppose him, to turn traitor 
to his master. Thus strengthened, he promul- 
gated a new plan ol'government,on the 2d Feb- 
ruary, 1823, entitled the ' Act of Casas Ma- 
ias.' The principal provisions of this act 
were the dethronement of Iturbide, and the 
establishment of a Republic. Iturbide al- 
most immediately abdicated the throne, which 
he had occupied but 10 months. An ample 
annuity was granted him, on condition of his 
residing in a foreign land. During the spring 
he set sail lor Italy, where he remained less 
than a year, and then returned secretly to 
Mexico, with the hope of again gaining the 
ascendency. It is not improbable that his 
friends might have rallied successfully in his 
favor, had he been able to make his appear- 
ance among them ; but he had landed in a 
distant part of the republic, and having in- 
cautiously thrown off his ' incognito,' he was 
arrested by the provincial authorities, and in 
pursuance of a decree passed in his absence, 
shot as an outlaw. 

Thus ended the career of one of the most 
remarkable men whom Mexico has produced. 
Two men stand pre-eminent in Mexican his- 
tory during the last forty years. — Iturbide 
and Santa Anna. The career of the one was 
short and brilliant ; as he met his death be- 
fore the age of forty ; the other has continued 
to be the hero of his country's revolutions. 
Augustine Iturbide was born in the city 
of Valadolid, in the western part of Mexico, 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



45 



of good Spanish family. His education was 
the best which the country afforded. He en- 
tered the army when scarcely more than 
twenty years old, and from the first manifest- 
ed uncommon abilities. No man was more 
depended on by the government in the early 
contest with the insurgents ; and none pos- 
sessed so much the confidence of the people. 
He has been usually represented as ambitious 
and selfish, but a recent writer, who has had 
access to his private papers and correspon- 
dence, pronounces him pure minded and pat- 
riotic. It is impossible to read motives with 
unerring certainty, when men are placed in 
circumstances like his ; the actor himself 
may be deceived in them. It is not necessa- 
ry to suppose a mal-administration of the 
government, to account for his downfall. 
The support which he received from the pat- 
riot generals could never have been hearty ; 
more especially when they forsaw the height 
to which his ambition and popularity would 
carry him. He had joined their ranks but a 
few months before his elevation to the throne, 
while Victoria, Bravo, and Guerrero had been 
among the earliest supporters of the cause. 
The people, also, must have felt the differ- 
ence between a favorite general and com- 
panion and an imperial master. By their 
own act they had placed him at an immeasur- 
able distance from them ; and they were nat- 
urally the first to evince the alienation which 
that distance occasioned. It can be said of 
him with safety, that he was at least as patri- 
otic as most of those who have succeeded 
him in authority. It may be a matter of in- 
terest to mention, that his widow and family 
have resided, for many years, in Philadel- 
phia. 

After the abdication of Iturbide, the gov- 
ernment was placed in a commission, until 
the plan of it should be definitively settled. 
This was not done until the October of the 
following year, 1824, when a'federal consti- 
tution was finally adopted. This was mod- 
eled from the constitution of the United 
States, but differed from it in one or two im- 



portant particulars ; as for example, in the 
absence of trial by jury and in the establish- 
ment of the Roman Catholic religion. To a 
citizen of the United States these differences 
seem all essential. Trial by jury or the right 
to it, is doubtless one of the bulwarks of our 
liberty, though its practical utility, in all 
cases, has probably been over-estimated ; and 
in a state of society constituted like that of 
Mexico, it would be an institution of very 
doubtful utility. As to the establishment of 
the Catholic religion, the want of any dis- 
senters made it prejudicial to no one; and 
the vast influence and wealth of the clergy, 
and the ignorance and superstition of the 
people, made its establishment essential to 
the permanence of any government which 
might be formed. On the whole, it may be 
doubted, whether in the formation of a new 
constitution, they did not adhere far more 
strictly to their model, than the state of the 
country justified. Wide as have been the de- 
partures however from the federal constitu- 
tion, it has ever remained the favorite of the 
Mexican people. They were stimulated by 
the example of ihe United States, and have 
looked upon federalism as a panacea which 
should heal all their disorders The revolt of 
Texas, and the increasing defection of other 
remote provinces of the republic, have all 
grown out of the violation of this constitu- 
tion. The popular cry of every general or 
party who would get into power, has been 
' Federalism' and the ' Constitution of '24.' 
Santa Anna even talked of it on his late re- 
turn from Havana. The first President 
elected for the Republic was General Victo- 
ria, whose name has already been frequently 
mentioned. Though uneducated, and, as a 
statesman, far inferior to many who had taken 
paft in the revolution, he was a true patriot 
and an honest man. No man has acted so 
consistently, and with so little selfishness, 
throughout the whole career of the Republic. 
The Vice President was Gen. Bravo, an un- 
fortunate > choice, as he had long been the 
rival of Victoria, and brought no hearty sup- 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO 



port to his government, Before his term of 
service had expired, he even took arms and 
engaged in open hostility against the Presi- 
dent. It seems to us a singular thing, to see 
a President and Vice President holding op- 
posite opinions and heading opposite fac- 
tions ; but this inconsistently arises in part 
from the mode in which these officers are 
elected, and has since been by no means an 
unusual spectacle. 

In the year 1825, the Independence of 
Mexico was recognized by Great Britain and 
the UnitedyStates ; and Mr. Poinsett, who 
had previously acted in the capacity of Com- 
missioner in negociating with the Republics 
of South America, was the first minister ap- 
pointed by our government. 

The second election for President took 
place in 1828, and was, in many respects, 
the fiercest political struggle which that 
country has ever witnessed. There were at 
that time two well defined parties. An un- 
usual element entered into their disputes, — 
* masonry.' There are, it would seem, two 
parties in the masonic fraternity, the Scotch 
party and the York party ; differing from 
each other in their doctrines and ceremonies. 
Lodges of the Scotch party had existed for 
several years in Mexico, and on the arrival of 
Mr. Poinsett, at the solicitation of many in- 
fluential persons in the Republic, he pro- 
cured a charter for a lodge of the York order, 
from the officers of the Fraternity in the 
United States. The Scotch part}, or the 
'Escoceses,' as they were called, held political 
sentiments similar to those of English Tories. 
The York party or ' Yorkinos,' sentiments 
corresponding to those of English Whigs. 
The candidate of the Escoceses was Gen. 
Gomez Pedraza, who was elected, by a small 
majority over Gen. Guerrero, the candidate ot 
the Yorkinos or Liberals. Before Pedraza 
had taken his seat, however, the defeated 
party pronounced and took arms against him, 
declaring that his election had been procured 
by fraud. At the head of this movement was 
Santa Anna, who shortly before had been 



suspended from his command at Vera Cruz, 
and who thought the present a favorable op- 
portunity for revenging himself on the gov- 
ernment, which was of the same political sen- 
timents with Pedraza. After the few days 
of turmoil and bloodshed which usually suc- 
ceed a Mexican • ' pronunciamento,' a new 
election was procured, which resulted in fa- 
vor of Guerrero. Don Anastasio Bustamente 
was elected Vice President, and Pedraza ban- 
ishd to the United States. 

In 1829, Spain made a final effort to re- 
cover her lost dominion in Mexico, and de- 
spatched an army from Cuba, under Gen. 
Barradas. This force landed at Tampico, 
and were met in that neighborhood by the 
republican army under Santa Anna. The 
Spanish forces were entirely defeated. The 
tide of popularity now set strongly in favor 
of Santa Anna; and as there must always be 
a counterpart to every hero, a corresponding 
degree of censure was visited upon Guerrero, 
For once, Santa Anna was inactive. Anew 
' revolution' was set on foot, headed by Bus- 
tamente, the Vice President. Guerrero was 
forced to resign, and Bustamente assumed 
the chair of state. Thus it will be seen, that 
rotation in office, is not only a principle in 
the Mexican republic, but a practice, which 
her leading statesmen are careful shall not 
fall into disuse. Guerrero, the unfortunate 
victim of this revolution, attempted to escape 
from the country, but was arrested on ship- 
board by the emissaries of the government, 
and after the form of a court martial, shot ; a 
summary mode of executing justice, which 
has always been fashionable among his coun- 
trymen. Santa Anna rer&ained in retirement 
on his estate near Vera Cruz, until 1832, 
when becoming weary of that idle life, he 
pronounced against the government of Bus- 
tamente. The result of this revolution was 
certainly a singular one, and not very credit- 
able to the motives or consistency of Santa 
Anna. The election of Pedraza in 1828, 
which he was mainly instrumental in over- 
turning, was declared to have been legal, and 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



47 



Bustamente was obliged to leave his office 
and the country. Pedraza was recalled and 
duly reinstated. Little however remained 
of his term ; and his recall was merely to 
serve the purposes of the wily general, by 
whose instrumentality it was effected. Santa 
Anna well knew the influence which an ex- 
isting administration may exercise in favor 
of its successor, and this influence was thus 
secured towards effecting his own election, 
which took place in March, 1833. Gomez 
Farias was, at the same time, elected Vice 
President. Just 14 years elapsed, and the 
parties again occupied the slime relative po- 
sitions; a singular illustration of the doctrine 
of chances; for hardly anything else can be 
said to govern the mutations in Mexican pol- 
itics. Santa Anna had of late shown consider- 
able disinclination to follow out the principles 
of the Federal Constitution. It imposed too 
many restrictions upon the action of one who 
would have the state governed by his own su- 
preme will. On this, as on many other sub- 
jects, he was at issue with Farias, who was 
and ever has been a firm supporter of Feder- 
alism. The Congress were, unfortunately 
for the General, by a large majority, of the 
same sentiments with the Vice President, and 
Santa Anna was under the necessity of dis- 
solving that body, as Cromwell dissolved the 
Long Parliament. At the same time he pro- 
nounced against the Vice President in favor 
of himself, and a new form of government, 
which has since been known as the ' Central 
System.' As in most of his projects, he was 
successful in this. Farias was banished, and 
for several years resided at New Orleans. 

The Central government differed in many 
essential particulars from the Federal, which 
it superseded. The represention of the de- 
partments were not abolished, but they were 
no longer permitted to hold legislative assem- 
blies. The tenure of the presidential office 
was lengthened to 8 years, and enlarged pow- 
ers were bestowed upon the Chief Magistrate. 
The details of the new system are extremely 
intricate, and as it has since been overturned, 



it is hardly worth while to explain them. The 
revolt of Texas was one of the revolutions 
which grew out of the new change in the do- 
mestic relations of the States. The most im- 
portant event of this war, (as it regards the 
thread of the present narrative,) was the 
capture and imprisonment of Santa Anna. 
After his release, he visited the United States, 
and had an interview with General Jackson, 
relative to the affairs of the new republic. 
Before his release, together with the princi- 
pal officers of his army, he had entered into 
a treaty with the Texians, by which the Inde- 
pendence of Texas was recognized. This 
treaty — which has been a bone of contention 
in the discussions in this country relative to 
the annexation of Texas and the present 
war — he repudiated on his return home, on 
the plea of duress, and the Mexican Congress 
did the same on the ground of a want of au- 
thority in the contracting parties. 

During Santa Anna's absence, Bustamente 
took the opportunity to return to Mexico, 
and excited a revolution, by which the pro- 
visional government was overturned, and he 
himself elected President. This office he 
held until 1841, when a combination was 
formed against him, headed by Generals Va- 
lencia, Paredes and Santa Anna. The re- 
sult was the ' Plan of Tacubaya,' which nom- 
inated a provisional government, with Santa 
Anna at its head, until a new constitution 
should be framed. Meanwhile had occurred 
the attack by the French on Vera Cruz in 
1839 — in which Santa Anna guided the Mex- 
ican army with energy and success. During 
this contest he lost his leg, and regained his 
military reputation, of which the Texians 
had deprived him. The powers conferred 
upon him under the Plan of Tacubaya, he 
construed as ' dictatorial,' and for nearly two 
years he governed the republic as dictator, 
until in 1844 the new constitution was 
formed, and he resigned his dictatorship only 
to be again elected President. But with all 
his diplomacy, he could not chain the incon- 
stant hearts of the Mexican people. It was 



48 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



complained of him that he wanted energy in 
prosecuting the war against Texas ; and this 
was made a pretext for a new revolution, 
headed by Paredes. While Santa Anna was 
absent from the Capital endeavoring to sup- 
press this outbreak, a third faction succeeded 
in raising Gen. Herrera to the presidential 
chair, and in procuring a decree by which 
Santa Anna was banished from the Republic 
for ten years. On leaving Mexico, in pursu- 
ance of this sentence, he took up his resi- 
dence at Havana, from whence he could easi- 
ly correspond with his partizans in his own 
country, and where he could be at hand in 
case of any favorable turn in affairs. 

Since 1845, a revolution has supplanted 
Herrera, and raised Paredes to the Execu- 
tive office ; and he in turn has given place 
to Gomez Farias. The present war with 
our country afforded Santa Anna the occa- 
sion to return to Mexico ; and his country- 
men, considering him their most able leader, 
made him Commander-in-Chief of their ar- 
mies and President of the republic. Having 
remained about nine months at the head of 
affairs, his want of success in opposing the 
American armies lost him the favor of his 
countrymen, and he has resigned the presi- 
dential office, and, it is said, is a second time 
succeeded by Herrera. Such is the position 
of affairs at the present writing, but what 
changes the next arrival may report it is im- 
possible to divine. 

The Constitution by which the country was 
till recently governed, is that of a central or 
consolidated republic. It was proclaimed on 
the 13th of June, 1843, and is a modification 
of the constitution of 1836. 

This instrument declares that the political 
power essentially resides in the Nation, and 
that Mexico adopts a popular representative 
system for its government ; it recognizes and 
protects the Roman Catholic religion, to the 
exclusion of all others ; it prohibits slavery, 
and guarantees civil and political rights to 
all the citizens of the republic, without dis- 
tinction of race or color ; by its provisions 



the right of suffrage, and of filling various 
offices, is considerably restricted by property 
qualifications and other requirements ; and 
after the year 1850, no one will be allowed 
to vote unless he can read and write ; certain- 
ly a very reasonable and necessary qualifica- 
tion for a good republican. 

The latest information is, that on the 21st 
of May, 1847, a new constitution was adopt- 
ed, founded on that of 1824 ; consequently 
more liberal in its provisions in regard to the 
rights and separate independence of the 
States. This measure was doubtless de- 
signed to concflitate the different depart- 
ments, and more effectually to secure the co- 
operation of the several States in prosecuting 
the war in which they are engaged. 

Such is a brief but complete outline of the 
history of Mexico during the Spanish domin- 
ion, and its existence as an independent na- 
tion. 

In taking a retrospective view of the his- 
tory of Mexico during its independence, we 
find but little encouragement to hope that 
country will, for a long time, succeed in a 
republican form of government. Doubtless 
the surest and speediest way to become qual- 
ified for freedom, is to enjoy the rights and 
exercise the functions of freemen. But in 
their school of liberty, the Mexicans have 
made no hopeful progress. They have made 
a laudable endeavor to imitate the political 
institutions of the United States, but the at- 
tempt thus far has been a signal failure. 
The nation does not possess the same ele- 
ments for free government as the Northern 
republic. The Anglo-Saxon is a law-Joving 
and law-abiding race. Having established 
the best form of government, they are con- 
tent to enjoy its blessings and devote their 
time and energies to the physical and intel- 
lectual improvements which become an en- 
lightened nation ; and while the Mexicans 
have wasted the life of an entire generation 
in forming and abolishing constitutions, and 
tampering with its political machinery, the 
United States, blessed with peace and stabil 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



49 



ity of government, have been astonishing the 
world by their increasing prosperity and 
power. 

The following parallel between Mexico 
and Massaceusetts occurs in the ' Recollec- 
tions of Mexico/ and penned, as it was, by a 
South Carolinian, it is not a little flattering 
to the old Bay State: 

' A new and very handsome custom house 
has just been completed on the mole at Vera 
Cruz. The material of which it is built is 
brought from Quincy, in Massachusetts, al- 
though there is stone equally as good within 
ten miles of Vera Cruz ; a. fact strikingly il- 
lustrative of the character of the people in 
the two countries. Such comparisons, or 
rather contrasts are constantly presented to 
the American travelling in Mexico. 

Mexico was colonised just one hundred 
years before Massachusetts. Her first set- 
tlers were the noblest spirit of Spain in her 
Augustan age, the epoch of Cervantes, Cor- 
tez, Pizarro, Columbus, Gonzalvo de Cor- 
dova, Cardinal Ximenes, and the great and 
good Isabella. Massachusetts was settled by 
the poor Pilgrims of Plymouth, who carried 
with them nothing but their own hardy vir- 
tues, and indomitable energy. Mexico, with 
a rich soil, and a climate adapted to every 
thing that grows out of the earth, and pos- 
sessing every metal used by man. Massachu- 
setts, with a sterile soil and ungenial climate, 
and no single article for exportation but ice 
and rock. How have these blessings, pro- 
fusely given by" Providence, been improved 
on the one hand and obstacles overcome on 
the other 1 What is now the respective con- 
dition of the two countries? In productive 
industry, wide-spread diffusion of knowledge, 
public institutions of every kind, general hap- 
piness and continually increasing prosperity ; 
in letters, arts, morals, religion ; in every 
thing which makes a people great, there is 
not in the world, and there never was in the 
world, such a commonwealth as Massachu- 
setts. " There she is ! look at her !" — and 
Mexico.' 



The condition of Mexico since it threw oft 
the Spanish authority is in many respects 
worse than before. Their independence has 
indeed given them more self-reliance, and 
brought out numbers of prominent men, but 
the body of the people have been in a worse 
condition, than under the greater stability of 
the colonial government. The standard of 
public morals has deterioated ; there is less 
security for life and property; fraud and 
peculation, in high places, have increas- 
ed ; the product of the mines has fall- 
en off; towns and cities, once populous and 
flourishing, have dwindled in importance ; 
valuable estates have been left to decay ; rob- 
bers and murderers are abroad, and revolu- 
tion is the order of the day. These revolu- 
tions have become nearly as much a matter 
ot course as thunder showers in sultry weath- 
er, and so frequent are they, that the mode 
of proceeding is reduced to something of the 
regularity of a programme. M. Chevalier, a 
French traveller in Mexico in 1835, thus 
speaks of the state of things at that time, and 
it has not materially improved since : 

' I have only been two months in Mexico, 
and already I have witnessed four attempts at 
revolution. Insurrections have become quite 
ordinary occurrences here, and their settled 
forms been gradually established, from which 
it is not considered fair to deviate. These 
seem almost as positively fixed as the laws of 
backgammon or the recipes of domestic cook- 
ery. The first act of a revolution is called 
apronunciamento. An officer of any rank, 
from a general down to a lieutenant, pro- 
nounces himself against the established order, 
or against an institution which displeases 
him, or against anything else. He gets to- 
gether a detachment, a company, or a regi- 
ment, as the case may be, and these gener- 
ally, without more ado, place themselves at his 1 
disposal. The second act is called the grito, 
or outcry, when two or three articles are 
drawn up to state the motives or objects of 
the insurrection. If the matter is of some 
importance the outcry is called a plan. At 



50 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



the third act, the insurgents and the parti- 
zans of the government are drawn up in 
front of one another, and mutually examine 
each other's forces. At the fourth act they 
come to Mows; but, according to the im- 
proved system of late introduced, the fighting 
is carried on in a very distant, moderate, and 
respectful manner. However, one party is 
declared victor, and the beaten party dispro- 
nounce. The conquerors march to Mexico, 
and their triumphal entry into the capital con- 
stitutes the fifth act of the play ; the van- 
quish leader meanwhile embarks at Vera 
Cruz or Tampico with all the honors of 
war.' 

It is a curious fact that there were three 
Mexican Presidents in banishment at one 
time. When Santa Anna went.to Cuba, he 
met Bustamcnte, whom he had deposed in 
1842, and had he gone by the way of New 
Orleans, he might have shaken hands with 
Farias, and perhaps received a little consola- 
tion from his former Vice President, against 
whom he had pronounced. Paredes is now 
in Exile, enjoying a European tour. It is 
good policy for the Mexicans to send their 
public men abroad to improve their manners 
and their knowledge of the governments ol 
other nations. They always return wiser 
than they went. Santa Anna's tour through 
the United States by the way of Texas was 
of essential benefit to him ; he learned some- 
thing of American character, and has been 
more humane and gentlemanly since. 

In general, the armies alone engage in 
these commotions. For the want of some- 
thing else to do, and a little excitement, and 
having nothing to lose, and perhaps a pros- 
pect of gaining something, they readily sec- 
onded the movements of their leaders. From 
the frequency of these outbreaks, the people 
generally have become quite indifferent to 
them. Even when the scene of action is in 
the capital, they show no signs of panic. — 
They quietly close their shops, lounge 
about the streets, where the cannons are not 
playing, and with folded arms and smoking 



their cigars, they coolly wait till one party 
declare themselves victors and take posses- 
sion of the government. 

In looking for the causes which have pre- 
vented the success of the Mexicans in main- 
taining a republican form of government, 
several facts presents themselves. It seems 
the fate of the Spaniards everywhere to be a 
mixed race. It might startle some, to be 
told that in colonizing the two countries the 
conduct of the blood stained conqueror of Mex- 
ico and his rapacious followers, was in any 
particular more humane and christian than 
that of the Pilgrims and their descendants. — 
But while the Anglo-Saxons have driven the 
Indian race betore them, and are fast exter- 
minating them from the land, the Spaniards 
went among the native inhabitants, mingled 
treely with them, weaned them from their 
idolatry, imparted to them civilization, and 
nominally at least, converted them to Chris- 
tianity. They shared with the original pro- 
prietors the lands of their fathers, and shared 
with them their homes and their firesides. — 
The young widow ofGuatimozin became the 
wife of a Spanish officer in the army of Cor- 
tez. The lovely daughters of Montezuma 
married into Castilian families of noble blood. 

But this partnership with the native race, 
has been, and will continue to be, exceed- 
ingly unfavorable to all schemes of self-gov- 
ernment. The Indian race are slow in adop- 
ting the customs and habits, and imbibing 
the principles of enlightened nations. The 
change from the absolute sway of Montezu- 
ma to the despotism of the Viceroys was not 
very great, but to ascend from the latter to 
Republicanism, was to attain a height that 
made the simple and dependant native alto- 
gether giddy and unstable. The Indian and 
mixt population comprising perhaps three 
fourths of the whole, the political virtue of 
the Spanish portion of ther epublic was not 
sufficient to s-ave it. In deed from the Span- 
ish race itself the most hopeful things are 
not to be expected, as regards permanency of 
political institutions. Spain itself, the pop- 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



51 



ulous hive of the colonies of the New World, 
has suffered a degree of anarchy and misrule 
that could not have been found in the dark- 
est nook of the empire of Montezuma. The 
Spanish American governments have, without 
exception, experienced a similar fate. It is, 
however, sincerely to be hoped that these con- 
stitutional tendencies, and natural difficulties 
may be overcome in Mexico, and that in due 
time it may become a well governed and 
prosperous republic. 



As we contemplate the history of the re- 
publics that have been, and the condition of 
thoso that now exist, we have cause for the 
deepest gratitude to that Providence who has 
granted to us success and prosperity, in such 
a wonderful degree; and warned by the dis- 
asters that have overtaken others, we should 
guard against the oauses that have led to 
them, and endeavor to transmit unimpaired 
those institutions which have been to us a 
richer inheritance than mines of silver and 
gold. 






CHAPTER IV. 



TEXAS— ITS REVOLUTION— SANTA ANNA. 



Early History. Grant of Land by Spain to Moses Austin. Colonized by citizens of the 
United States. Texas a State of the Mexican Republic. Causes of Difficulties. Com.'' 
mencement of the War. Number of Inhabitants at the time. Change of Government in 
Mexico. Texians Protest. Campaign of 1835. Santa Anna Invades the Country. — 
Texians declare their Independence. Mexicans take San Antonio. Fall of the Alamo. 
Affairs at Goliad. Colonel Fanning' s Command Taken and four hundred Prisoners Shot 
Progress of the Mexican Army. Texians Rally. General Houston advances to meet 
Santa Anna. Battle of San Jacinto, and total Defeat of the Mexicans. Santa Anna 
a Prisoner. Continuation of the War. Annexation. Remarks on Texian Affairs. 
Biographical Sketch of Santa Anna — Personal Appearance— His Education — Anec~ 
dotes of, his Gratitude and Humanity. Release of Texian Prisoners — Their Treatment 
by the Mexicans. The boy John Hill released and adopted by Santa Anna. Prisoners 
of Perote. Santa Anna's love of Cock-fighting — Loss of his Leg and its Consequences. 
Santa Anna during the present War with this Country. 



As the history of Texas is interwoven with 
that of Mexico, as well as of our own coun- 
try, and the present war between the two Re- 
publics has grown out of difficulties relating 
to this territory, a notice of its settlement 
and subsequent affairs will here be given. 

This is a new country and nation, and un- 
til within a few years almost unknown to the 
geography and history of the world. Pre- 
viously to 1690, it formed a remote and 
merely nominal part of the conquests of Cor- 
tez, inhabited almost wholly by predatory In- 
dian tribes, but in that year the Spaniards, 
having driven out a colony of French who 
had established themselves at Matagorda, 



made their first permanent settlement at San 
Francisco. For more than a century little 
was done towards colonizing the territory, 
and in 1821 the only settlements were the 
Spanish ports, and military pcets of San An- 
tonio de Bexar, Bahia pr Goliad, and Nacog- 
doches, comprising in all about 3000 inhab- 
itants. 

By the treaty of 1816, between the United 
States, and Spain, the River Sabine was 
adopted as the line of boundary between the 
two Powers. The country being thus con- 
firmed to Spain by treaty, applications were 
made to the Spanish government for grants of 
land ; and such grants were made to Euro- 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



53 



peans and citizens of the United States, be- 
fore the separation of Mexico from Spain, 
■and were afterwards confirmed by the Mexi- 
can government. In 1821, Moses Austin, a 
citizen of the United States, obtained a grant 
•of a tract about one hundred miles in breadth, 
on the coast, between, and east and west of 
the Brazos and Colorado rivers, and one 
hundred and fifty into the interior, upon 
which he was to introduce three hundred 
families, each to have a specified portion. — 
The elder Austin dying, his son, Stephen 
Austin, carried out the enterprise; and thus 
commenced the occupation of Texas by our 
countrymen. Encouraged by the induce- 
ments held out, and attracted by the miid 
climate and fertile soil, emigrants from Eu- 
rope and the United States, but mostly from 
the latter, continued to enter the country and 
settle on the uncultivated lands. 

After the Independence of Mexico, at the 
formation of the Federal Republic in 1824, 
Texas was united with the adjoining depart- 
ment, forming the State Coahuila and Texas ; 
the latter to become a separate State when 
the number of its population should be suf- 
ficient. 

As might have been anticipated, this set- 
dement of a portion of the Mexican ter- 
ritory by a race different in language, re- 
ligion and education, soon began to give rise 
to serious difficulties. Another cause of 
trouble not very creditable to our own coun- 
trymen, was the fact that they introduced and 
continued the system of slavery, in a country 
whose constitution proclaimed all to be free. 

For these and other causes, the Mexican 
government began to look with jealousy and 
distrust upon the distant and flourishing State 
of Texas ; and in 1832, military posts and 
garrisons were stationed in some of the prin- 
cipal places. This course on the part of the 
government, with some acts of aggression 
committed by the soldiers, aroused the Tex- 
ians, and a small body attacked the Mexican 
garrisons, and drove them from the State. 

The Mexican government being at this 
4 



time in a distracted state, no immediate at- 
tention was paid to this opposition to the con- 
stituted authorities. In 1833, Texas having 
a population of about thirty thousand Amer- 
icans, and perhaps ten thousand Europeans 
and Mexicans, all making a number which 
they considered sufficient for the purpose, a 
convention assembled and drew up a petition 
to the government to be erected into a sep- 
arate State of the Mexican confederacy. 
Mr. Austin was sent to Mexico with the pe- 
tition, but the National Congress being deep- 
ly engaged in various projects of reform un- 
der the new president Santa Anna, who had 
recently came into power, did not attend to 
the petition. Mr. Austin having waited 
some months to obtain a hearing, abandoned 
the hope of succeeding at that time, and 
having addressed a letter to the municipal 
authorities at San Antonio, advising the 
call of a convention to organize a state gov. 
ernment, he started for home. His letter 
was however intercepted, and he was arrest- 
ed on his way for treason, and thrown into 
prison at Saltillo, where he remained some 
months, 

Santa Anna, doubtless considering a more 
consolidated and efficient government neces- 
sary, to preserve tranquility among the igno- 
rant masses which compose the nation, pro- 
cured the adoption of the Central, in place 
ot the Federal form of government. As 
this abolished the State legislatures and only 
left to the departments a responsible As- 
sembly, and the right of representation in the 
general Congress, Texas and some of the 
other States protested against the change of 
government. The other States were brought 
into the measure by negotiation or threats, 
excepting Zacatecas, which still held out. 
The state was declared to be in rebellion 
against the government, and the President, 
Santa Anna, at the head of an army marched 
against them in May 1835, and, defeating 
their forces in a bloody battle, reduced the 
State to subjection. 

In October following, a Mexican force 



54 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



under General Cos, invaded Texas, to reduce 
the people to submission to the government. 
The Texians had expressed their willingness 
to remain in the confederacy, provided the 
constitution of 1824 was adhered to, and in 
accordance with its provisions, they should 
be permitted to form a separate State ; but as 
the government was not disposed to use any 
other than forcible measures, the colonists 
rallied and met them on their own terms. 
After a succession of brilliant achievements, 
among which were the taking of the ancient 
and strong fort at Goliad, and the Alamo or 
fortress of San Antonio, the Texians closed 
the campaign of 1835, without leaving a sin- 
gle Mexican post within their borders. 

On the second of March, 1838, the Texi- 
ans declared their independence, and 
pledged their lives, property and sacred honor 
to maintain it. 

Meantime these events caused great ex- 
citement in the capital ; and the government 
foreseeing the probability of the secession of 
Texas, and doubtless aware that this would 
lead to further losses of territory on the north, 
prepared for the most vigorous measures; 
and the President, Santa Anna, resolved to 
lead the army, in person, against the revolted 
province. 

On account of the favorable termination 
of the previous campaign, the Texians had 
in a measure relaxed their vigilance ; the 
citizen soldiers had returned to their em- 
ployments ; and the forts of San Antonio and 
Goliad were left under garrisons of the volun- 
teers from the United States. The whole 
Texian force at the time in the field, it is 
said did not exceed five hundred men. They 
had just commenced forming their govern- 
ment and everything was in an unsettled 
state, when the whole country was startled 
by the announcement that Santa Anna was 
upon their western borders with an army of 
8000 men. The invading army entered 
Texas in two divisions ; the right, command- 
ed by General Urrea, was following along the 
coast, and advancing upon Goliad, while the 



left commanded by Santa Anna in person, 
was marching upon San Antonio by an 
interior route. The little garrison of the 
fortress at this place consisted of 150 men, 
under the command ot Colonel Travis. They 
were summoned to surrender, but answered 
with a cannon shot from the walls. They 
maintained themselves for several days against 
4000 Mexicans, with great destruction of 
the assailants, but the fort was taken, March 
the 6th, and they were cut off, to a man. 

While these things were passsing at San 
Antonio, General Urrea, with the Southern 
division of the Mexican army, was sweeping 
everything before him in that quarter. 
Colonel Fanning at the head of a garrison of 
about, 400 men at Goliad, hearing of the 
advance of the enemy three or four thousand 
strong, and not being prepared to maintain a 
siege, burnt the town, abandoned the fort 
and commenced his retreat. He had not 
proceeded more than half a day's march 
when the enemy came up with him, and 
nearly surrounded his little army. He formed 
his troops into a hollow square, with their 
baggage for breast-works, and maintained 
his position during the day. His nine pieces 
of artillery, loaded with grape shot and mus- 
ket balls made great havoc among the enemy 
as they charged upon him, 900 of them, it is 
said, having fallen in the battle. But he 
being wounded and many of his men killed, 
and knowing that they could not long hold 
out against superior numbers, he sent in a 
flag of truce, and articles of capitulation 
were drawn up and signed, by which the 
Texians ' were to be received and treated 
as prisoners of war, according to the usages 
of civilized nations.' Having given up their 
arms the Texians were marched back to 
Goliad and placed in the fort, March 2L 
Previous to Fanning's retreat from Goliad, 
a detachment of about 100 of his men, under 
Colonel Ward, the Georgia battalion, were 
sent out on an expedition about twenty-five 
miles, and being met by a large force of the 
Mexicans, they took a position in a church,, 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



55 



and with their death-dealing rifles defended 
themselves a whole day against all the at- 
tempts of the enemy to take them. It is 
said that they killed and wounded 400 of the 
enemy, without losing a man, and having 
only three severely Wounded. They escaped 
from the church in the night, but were after- 
wards captured and taken prisoners to the 
fort, with the rest of Farming's men. About 
the same time, Major Miller and ninety men 
who had just arrived on the coast from the 
United States, were also brought in prison- 
ers, making the whole number in the fort at 
Goliad, about 400. To the men who sur- 
rendered under Colonel Fanning, about 240 
in number, a written agreement had been 
made, for honorable treatment as prisoners of 
war. But in violation of this stipulation, 
and of every sentiment of humanity, and of 
the usages of civilized warfare, the whole 
body of prisoners were shot. The following 
is an extract of a letter written by a Mexican 
officer who, it would seem, was an unwilling 
actor in this dreadful tragedy. 

' This day, Palm Sunday, March 27, has 
been to me a day of most heartfelt sorrow. 
At six in the morning, the execution of four 
hundred and twelve American prisoners was 
commenced, and continued till eight, when 
the last of the number was shot. At eleven 
commenced the operation of burning their 
bodies. But what an awful scene did the 
field present when the prisoners were execu- 
ted and fell dead in- heaps. And what spec- 
tator could view it without horror. They were 
all young, the oldest not more than thirty,and 
of fine florid complexions. When the unfor- 
tunate youths were brought to the place of 
death,their lamentations And tbje appeals which 
they uttered to Heaven in their own languao-e, 
with extended arms, kneeling or prostrate on 
the earth, were such as might have caused 
the very stones to cry out in compassion.' 

This act of barbarity, sanctioned by Santa 
Anna himself, though distant from the scene 
at the time, cannot of course be justified on 
any principles whatever ; but for the sake of 



our common humanity we would give the 
Mexicans the benefit of any palliating cir- 
cumstances that the case admits. It is^to be 
borne in mind then, that they were exaspera- 
ted at the severe losses they had sustained, 
fifteen hundred of their men having fallen by 
the hands of the little garrisons of the Alamo 
and Goliad. To maintain possession of forts 
and churches, and without hope of continued 
successful resistance to cut down hundreds of 
their troops, they considered obstinacy and a 
wanton destruction of life. The Mexican gov- 
ernment, as Santa Anna afterwards stated in 
his defence, had decreed that no prisoners 
should be made if found resisting ; and there- 
fore if there was cruelty it must be charged 
upon the government and net on its minister; 
he stated that the Mexicans ' were severely 
suffering for want of food for themselves, and 
the prisoners were armed with secret weap- 
ons which they refused to give up, and showed 
constant signs of revolt, and being guarded 
only by a few hundred soldiers, there were 
fears that they would rise upon the guard. 
The Mexicans were moreover greatly exas- 
perated to find that most of the prisoners 
were citizens of the United States; one com- 
pany of ninety was taken, freshly landed at 
the port of Copano. Influenced by these 
motives, and excited by the stirring events of 
an important campaign, a deed was permitted, 
which, if we may judge from his subsequent 
acts and assertions, no one has more reo-ret- 
ted than Santa Anna himself. 

While these things were transpiring in the 
western portion of the State, news of the in- 
vaders having advanced upon San Antonio 
[ and Goliad, reached the town of Washing- 
ton, where the convention for framing a con- 
stitution was then in session. General Hous- 
ton — who had been appointed to the chief 
command — immediately issued his proclama- 
tion, stating that ' the services of all were 
forthwith required in the field.' Rallying a 
force of five hundred men, he marched to 
the relief of the garrisons; but arriving at 
Gonzales, and learning of the fall of the 



56 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



Alamo and the surrender of Fanning, and 
that the Mexicans were approaching with an 
overwhelming force, he retreated to the river 
Brazos. In their progress eastward, the 
southern division of the invading army 
crossed the Brazos at Brazoria, that under 
Santa Anna at San Felipe, on the way to the 
town of Harrisburg, where the convention 
was then in session, Santa Anna^ hoping, 
doubtless, to seize the members of this body. 
The Texian General having learned by his 
scouts that the force under Santa Anna was 
by no means so large as had been reported, 
broke up his encampment on the Brazos, and 
having marched fifty miles in two days, ar- 
rived at the river San Jacinto. A courier 
despatched by the Mexican General to the 
other division of his army, being seized and 
brought into the Texian camp, General Hous- 
ton learned the precise number -of the force 
under Santa Anna and his intended line #f 
march ; and the number of the enemy not 
being more than double his own, he resolved 
to give him battle before he should have time 
to receive reinforcements. According to 
Houston's official report, the number of his 
men was 783, that of the enemy above 1500. 
The Texians having crossed Buffalo Bayou, 
met the Mexican army just below the conflu- 
ence of this stream with the San Jacinto, on 
the 21st of April, 1836. The armies were 
dr.awn up and disposed to the best advantage 
on both sides, a portion of Santa Anna's be- 
ing defended by a fortification constructed of 
packs and baggage. The fight commenced 
by cannonading, manoeuvring of cavalry and 
occasional discharges of fire-arms. The 
Mexicans behaved with great coolness and 
bravery for a time, but the Texians advancing, 
their rifles carried death among the Mexi- 
cans, and the artillery discharging grape and 
cannister, made breaches in their ranks ; at 
length the Texians rang the war-cry ' Re- 
member the Alamo,' and rushed upon the 
Mexican lines ; for the want of bayonets, 
usinc their rifles as war-clubs, and wielding 
their dirks and bowie knives with such dead- 



ly effect that the Mexicans were panic 
stricken, and the contest became rather a mas- 
sacre than a fight. 

The victory was complete. According to- 
the report alluded to, the los3 of the Texians 
was two killed and twenty-three wounded, 
six of them mortally. The loss of the Mexi- 
cans was 630 killed, 208 wounded, 730 pris- 
oners, among whom was the President^ Gen- 
eral Santa Anna with his officers. Besides 
muskets, baggage and cannon, several hun- 
dred horses and mules, and near twelve thou- 
sand dollars in specie fell into the hands of 
the victors. This battle secured the inde- 
pendence of the country. Santa Anna was 
released, on condition of sending the remain- 
der of his army home, no more to take up 
arms against the country, and acknowledging 
the independence of Texas. This treaty, as 
has been stated, was disavowed by the Mexi- 
can Congress, as according to the law of na~ 
tions they had a right to, on the ground that 
Santa Anna was a prisoner at the time, and 
had he not been he was not authorized by 
the Mexican government to bind his country 
by any treaty whatever. Accordingly the 
war against Texas was continued, mostly in 
show and threats, till it became a war against 
our country. Something however in the way 
of naval warfare was carried on upon the 
Gulf, and occasional incursions were made 
upon the western borders, and in 1842—3 
some two or three hundred prisoners were 
made in Texas and within the limits of Mex- 
ico, and carried to the capital. 

Meantime the independence of Texas had 
been recognized by the United States, Eng- 
land, France, and Belgium ; and thus ac- 
knowledged as ^n independent nation by the 
chief powers of the world, it appMed and* 
was admitted a member of the American 
Union. 

Such is the history of Texas; a country 
which for a few years past has perhaps more 
than any other, engaged the attention of the 
civilized nations. Whatever of wrong may 
have entered into the motives o? conduct of 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



57 



those by whom Texas was colonized, and sev- 
ered from the Mexican republic, the event it- 
self seems to be one of those necessany 
changes in national affairs, which result from 
the progress of society, and the different 
qualities and characters of the different races 
of mankind. 

Had the authorities of Spain and of Mexi- 
co duly appreciated the enterprising charac- 
ter and progressive career of the American 
people, they would have seen that the only 
way to prevent them from gaining the as- 
cendency in a portion of their country, was to 
exclude them instead of inviting them into 
it. But after the territory had become colo- 
nized by our people, its separation was as 
natural as that of Mexico from Spain, or of 
the American colonies from Great Britain, 
and the more necessary inasmuch as in the 
case of Texas and Mexico the people were 
different in race, language, education and re- 
ligion. Which difference must have pre- 
vented all blending or harmonious union 
between the two portions of the republic. 

Had the Mexicans, instead of consuming 
their energies in subverting their institutions 
and waging war upon each other, employed 
them in developing the vast resources of their 
country, in extending their commerce, in 
settling the distant provinces, in construct- 
ing railroads, and thus with bars of iron bind- 
ing together the different sections of the 
country — had the church, instead of confirm- 
ing the people in bigotry and intolerance 
and binding them in spiritual despotism, in- 
stilled into their minds those charitable senti- 
ments which Christianity inculcates, and im- 
parted to them those principles of religious 
and political freedom which are essential to 
the independence and prosperity of a nation ; 
and instead of hoarding the wealth of the 
country and living luxuriftusly upon it, had 
they employed it in educating and enlighten- 
ing the people, Mexico would not have seen 
her provinces possessed and improved by her 
more liberal, enlightened and enterprising 



neighbors of the North, nor had the humilia- 
tion of finding herself incapable of preventing 
internal feuds or repelling a few thousand in- 
vaders. 

So far as primitive rights are concerned, 
Texas belonged to the Indian tribes who in- 
habited it. Cortez and his descendants had 
no other right to it than the Texians now 
have — t'hat of conquest. And as the Mexi- 
cans had failed to reclaim the country from 
the condition of nature, it was, in the events 
of Providence, given over to a people who 
would rescue it from its state of barbarism ; 
and now, instead of a wilderness occupied 
by buffaloes, wild horses, and wilder savage 
tribes, we see an extensive and fertile re- 
gion flourishing in the hands of its new pos- 
sessors. 

The limits of the institution of slavery 
have unfortunately been extended, but this 
is a temporary evil. While not only the most 
enlightened nations of the earth are pro- 
testing against this relic of by-gone days, 
but such countries as Mexico and some of 
the South American States, and even the 
despot of Egypt have discarded it, it cannot 
be believed that any portion of our country- 
men will long tolerate this unprofitable and 
degrading institution, or be willing to perpet- 
uate this dark stain upon the reputation of 
our great and free public. 

On the whole then, whatever different 
opinions may be entertained upon that ex- 
citing subject — Texian affairs, great good 
must result from the occupation of the coun- 
try by the Anglo-Saxon race. 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF SANTA ANNA. 

As Santa Anna occupies so conspicuous a 
place in Mexican history, a further notice of 
his career and character will not be improper 
or uninteresting. He is said to be a native 
of Vera Cruz, of humble birth, and the archi- 
tect of his own fortune. He is now about 
fifty-five years of age. He is about five feet 
ten inches high, with a finely proportioned 



58 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



person. ' I do not know,' remarks Mr. 
Thompson, ' that I have ever seen a more 
striking, and finely formed head and face ; 
there is scarcely a feature or a point in eith- 
er that Spurzheim or Lavater would desire to 
change.' His complexion is of an olive shade ; 
he has a dark and penetrating eye, and a 
modest and rather melancholy cast of coun- 
tenance; but when powerfully excited his 
eye and countenance are full of fire and en- 
ergy, having even a tiger-look, as some say. 

He entered the army at an early age, and 
tor a number of years held the command of 
the garrison, at Vera Cruz. His education, 
therefore, is principally one of experience, 
having been acquired in the barracks, the 
camp, and the council chamber. He is not 
free from a certain hereditary complaint 
which is common to the whole Spanish na- 
tion, and may be traced at least, as far back 
as th€ illustrious founder of Vera Cruz.— 
When the messengers of Montezuma came 
bringing presents, Cortez wished them to 
bring more gold, saying, ' the Spaniards were 
troubled with a disease of the heart for which 
gold dust was a specific.' On account of 
this constitutional infirmity, Santa Anna has 
looked well to the 'specific ' He owns an im- 
mense tract of country, extending nearly the 
whole distance between Vera Cruz and Ja- 
lapa, about seventy miles, and has, it is said, 
from forty to fifty thousand head of cattle. — 
He is represented as dignified and courteous. 
Madame Calderon, in speaking of his first ap- 
pearance at the opera, after his appointment 
to the dictatorship in 1841, says ; ' We met 
the great man { en face,' and he stopped and 
gave us a cordial recognition. Two years 
have made little change in him in appearance. 
He retains the same interesting, resigned, and 
rather melancholy expression ; the same qui- 
et voice, and grave, but agreeable manners; 
and surrounded by pompous officers, he alone 
looked quiet, gentlemanly and high bred.' 

On account of the sanguinary character of 
the Texian campaign many have considered 
him a semi-barbarian, and a fit chieftain of 



a half civilized nation. In a history of the 
Texian revolution, written by an honorable 
gentleman, Santa Anna is usually styled 'the 
Mexican Chief.' Educated as he has been in 
the school of war and civil strife, it would be 
strange if his conduct had been entirely free 
from acts of unreasonable severity, but that 
cruelty is not a marked trait of his disposition 
there is abundant proof. 

To place the character of ' the Mexican 
Chief in a more agreeable point of view, and 
to show that even the Mexicans 'are not en- 
tirely destitute of the better qualities of hu- 
man nature, I shall here quote from the ' Re- 
collections of Mexico,' by Hon. Waddy 
Thompson, our minister to that country in 
1842--3. 

' On the 16th of June, 1842, the Texian 
prisoners of the Santa Fe expedition were re- 
leased by General Santa Anna, that being his 
birth-day or rather the anniversary of his 
saint (Saint Antonio,) which is the day kept 
by all Mexicans instead of their own birth- 
day. I knew that they were to be released 
on that day on the parade ground near the 
city, and fearing that the immense populace 
which would be assembled might offer them 
some violence, I went out knowing that my 
official station would protect me and might 
enable me to protect them. Never was fear 
more groundless or surprise more agreeable. 
Santa Anna reviewed on that occasion more 
than ten thousand troops, and there were not 
less than thirty or forty thousand other per- 
sons assembled in the field. When the order 
for their liberation was given it was received 
with acclamations and shouts by the Mexi- 
can troops, which extended through the 
whole vast concourse. The officers and oth- 
ers threw pieces of money to the Texians, 
and as they passed through the crowd, in- 
stead of jeers and insults, every Mexican had 
a word of kindness for them, running up to 
them and shaking hands, and exclaiming, 
' amigo, amigo !' my friend, my friend ! 1 
saw one poor lepero pull off his blanket and 
offer it to a Texian who was rather more rag- 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



59 



ged than he was himself. As they passed 
alpng the streets men and women would run 
out from their shops and offer them bread and 
other articles. Let it be remembered that 
these men had invaded their country, and 
that they had been sedulously taught to regard 
them as their born enemies, los Texanos (the 
Texians) having all the associations with a 
Mexican that the words los Moros, (the 
Moors) had with their Gothic ancestors. I 
could not refrain from asking myself whether 
if the people of any other country had inva- 
ded ours and been made prisoners, they 
would under like circumstances have passed 
through such a crowd not only without in- 
sult but with such demonstrations of kind- 
ness and sympathy. There were a few in- 
stances of atrocious barbarity practiced upon 
these prisoners upon the frontiers of Mexico, 
when they were first captured. But after they 
had advanced within fifteen hundred miles of 
the city the general treatment which they re- 
ceived was kind and respectful ; I think there 
was no single exception to this remark 
whilst they were confined in the convent of 
Saint jago near Mexico. 

' They were some occurrences,' continues 
the author, ' which passed under my own eye, 
and for the truth of which I vouch, which will 
better illustrate the character of General 
Santa Anna than any general dissertation of 
mine, and which will be entitled to more 
consideration than my own individual opin- 
on. When Santa Anna was a prisoner in 
Texas, he was put in chains. The proud 
spirit of a soldier and a Castilian could not 
bear this indignity, and he attempted to com- 
mit suicide by taking laudanum. He was 
relieved from its effects and otherwise kindly 
treated by Dr. Phelps, of Texas. On the ar- 
rival of the prisoners taken at Mier, Santa 
Anna ascertained that there was one whose, 
name was Phelps. He sent for him, and 
asked him if he was related to Dr. Phelps, of 
Washington, Texas; when the young man 
replied that he was his son, Santa Anna or- 
dered that he should be released, sent an aid- 



de-camp with him into the city, and pur- 
chased two or three suits of clothes for him, 
and gave him a room in his palace. I was 
informed of all this, and as there was an 
American ship of war at Vera Cruz, about to 
start to the United States, I wrote a note to 
Santa Anna, offering young Phelps a passage. 
He replied, thanking me for the offer, but 
declined it, saying that he felt himself fortu- 
nate in having it in his power to return, in 
some degree, the kindness of Dr. Phelps to 
him, when he was a prisoner in Texas, and 
and that he preferred sending his son home 
at his own expense; which he did, giving to 
him also a draft on his factor in Vera Cruz, 
for whatever sum of money he might ask for. 

' Amongst the prisoners taken at Mier. 
was a very shrewd and handsome boy, of 
about fifteen years of age, John Hill. On 
their arrival in Mexico, this boy was not close- 
ly confined as the other prisoners were, and 
he came to see me, and requested that I 
would ask the President to release him. I 
told him to go himself, and I was sure that 
Santa Anna would be more apt to do it on his 
own account than on mine. 

' A few days afterwards the little fellow re- 
turned to my house very handsomely dressed, 
and told me that he had been liberated, and 
gave me the following account of what had 
passed between himself, and the President. — 
When he requested Santa Anna to release 
him, the latter replied, ' Why if I do, you 
will come back and fight me again. The 
Santa Fe prisoners were released on their 
parole of honor not to bear arms again against 
Mexico, and it was not three months before 
half of them had invaded the country again; 
and they tell me you killed several of my 
Mexicans. at Mier.' The little fellow replied 
that he did not know how many he had kill- 
ed, but that he had fired fifteen or twenty 
times during the battle. ' Very well,' said 
Santa Anna, ' I will release you, and what is 
more, I will adopt you as my son, and edu- 
cate and provide for you a? such.' 

1 The boy was adopted on a full footing 



60 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



of equality in his family and treated with the 
most parental kindness. He was afterwards 
•placed at the principal college in Mexico, 
where he was pursuing his education when I 
left the country. Gen. Santa Anna not only 
paid the charges of his education but in all 
respects cared for him as a son. Sometime 
after his own discharge, little Hill came to 
me to request that I would obtain the release 
of his father; I told him no, that he was a 
more successful negociator than I was, to go 
and try his own hand again. He did so, and 
obtained at once the release of his father, 
and afterwards of a brother who was also 
among the prisoners. 

' I might protract this narrative almost in- 
definitely by describing similar instances, but 
1 will mention only one more, and it impressed 
me more favorably $ian any other, because it 
was the triumph of the better and more gener- 
ous feelings and impulses of our nature, over 
the previously formed determination of cal- 
culating policy. At the period of my leaving 
Mexico, there were thirty-six Texians con- 
fined at the castle of Perote, who had been 
made prisoners by Gen. Wall at San Anto- 
nio in Texas in the fall of 1842. I was very 
anxious that they should be released, and with 
that view, stopped some days at Jalapa, as 
Santa Anna was daily expected at his beauti- 
ful country seat, the Encerro, five miles dis- 
tant from that city. When I visited him he 
turned the conversation upon the purpose of 
the United States to annex Texas, and spoke 
freely but respectfully on the subject. It was 
not positively known then in Mexico that such 
a negotiation was on foot ; at least I did not 
know it, perhaps Santa Anna did. I was not 
disposed to enter into any discussion with 
him, but his remarks at length became so 
strong that I could not be silent, and I replied 
to him with a good deal of warmth, and at 
the close of a short and pretty animated dis- 
cussion, I said to him — ' What do you intend 
to do with the Texian prisoners ? do you in- 
tend to keep them here always? ' What else 
can I do, sir? if I release them on their pa- 



role they will not respect it, and I gain noth- 
ing by making them prisoners, for they im- 
mediately take up arms again as did the pris- 
oners of the Sante Fe expedition,' and he ad- 
ded,' I was informed that you intend to ask the 
release of these prisoners; but I beg that you 
will not do it, for great as the pleasure would 
be to oblige you, my duty forbids it.' I told 
him that he knew that 1 was not apt to aban- 
don my purposes, and that I would ask it and 
what was more, that I knew he would re- 
lease them. I added that the prisoners ta- 
ken at San Antonio did not know that it was 
the Mexican army which was approaching, 
but supposed it was a "band of robbers which 
was infesting the place; the Texians had all 
told me so. He replied : ' I know they say so, 
but it is not true; Gen. Wall entered San 
Antonio with cannon and music, and any one 
knows that robber bands have neither.' — 
' Well,' said I, ' if they did, they were defend- 
ing their homes and hearths, and a gallant 
defence they made, and a generous enemy 
should respect them the more.' ' That,' said 
he, 'is putting the matter on a different foot- 
ing. Are there any particular individual of 
the San Antonio prisoners whom you wish 
released?' ' Yes, there are.' 'Then,' said 
he, * send me alistof their names to-morrow.' 
' No I will give them to you now/ I replied. 
'Very well,' said he, ' Who are they?' I an- 
swered, ' all of them. How can I distinguish 
between men, all strangers to me personally, 
whose cases are in all respects the same, and 
why should you ?' ' Well,' said he, with 
manifest emotion, ' I have been advised not to 
do it, and had made up my mind that I would 
not, but you shall take them all with you.' 

Thus at different times, as the same au- 
thor remarks, Santa Anna, at his solicitation, 
released more than two hundred Texian pris- 
oners ; individuals too who had not only suc- 
ceeded in severing a large and valuable tract 
from the republic, but who were, most of 
them taken while actually invading undispu- 
ted Mexican soil. It is pleasant to record 
such exhibitions of the kindlier emotions in 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



61 



a quarter and under circumstances where we 
should hardly expect them. 

Santa Anna possesses not only a humane 
and generous but even a playful disposition. 
He is very fond of amusements, particularly 
of cock-fighting, according to the custom of 
his country. * When I first visited him at 
EncerrO, to request the release of the prison- 
ers,' says Mr. Thompson, ' he was examining 
his chicken cocks, having a large main then 
depending ; he went* round the coops and ex- 
amined every fowl, and gave directions as to 
his feed ; some to have a little more, others 
to be stinted! There was one of very great 
beauty, of the color of the partridge, only 
with feathers tipped with black instead of 
yellow or white ; and the male in all respects 
like the female, except in size. He asked 
me if we had any such in our country, and 
when I told him that we had not, he said that 
if that one gained his fight he vvould send him 
to me, — he was the only one of fifteen which 
did not lose his fight ; and shortly after my re- 
turn, when I visited New York, I found the 
fowl there. I had thought no more about it, 
and I had no idea that he would. After ex- 
amining his chicken cocks we returned to 
the house, and then he was all the President; 
and to have listened to his eloquent conver- 
sation (on matters of war and government) 
one would not have supposed that he had 
ever witnessed a cock-fight.' 

When Santa Anna returned from his Tex- 
as expedition, deprived of his army and shorn 
of his glory, he went to his estate at Manga 
de Clavo, near Vera Cruz, and, humbled and 
mortified and in bad repute with his country- 
men, he continued to live in complete re- 
tirement — one of the severest trials to his 
ever-restless spirit. • But when, in 1839, the 
French Squadron, under Prince de Joinville, 
had taken the Castle of San Juan, and had 
landed tq take possession of Vera Cruz, San- 
ta Anna at the head of a detachment made a 
gallant attack upon them and drove them 
hack to their shipping. In this action, as 



has been intimated, he lost his left leg below 
the knee. But the common remark, that 
there is no loss wkhout some gain, proved 
particularly true in his case. The departed 
limb was afterwards brought to the capital 
and buried with all the honors of war, a fu- 
neral oration appropriate to the occasion be- 
ing pronounced over it by a distinguished 
member of the Mexican Congress. The de- 
feat and disgrace of San Jacinto were forgot- 
ten, and the memory of former services and 
of the recent achievement alone possessed 
the minds of the public. The Hero's wood- 
en substitute became the constant badge of 
his bravery and devotion, and by its aid he 
advanced in favor with his countrymen, and 
to supreme power in the government. 

Santa Anna must have possessed a remark- 
able degree of diplomatic tact, and energy 
of character to have made him so uniformly 
successful in his country's revolutions. He 
has now, for the fourth time been at the head 
of the government. Indeed, his history is 
interwoven with that of his country for 
the past twenty-five years. He was principal 
in forming the federal republican constitu- 
tion of 1824 ; he put the finishing stroke to 
the war of independence, by defeating the 
last invading army of Spain, in 1829; he 
favored the change from the federal to the 
consolidated form of government in 1836, 
because he thought his countrymen were not 
yet qualified to sustain a strictly republican 
government ; he assumed the dictatorship in 
1841, on the strength of that clause in the 
constitution which delegated to the chief 
magistrate ' all necessary powers' to preserve 
the public tranquility. Another revolution 
broke out and sent him into banishment. 

Such is the man on whom the Mexicans 
have rested their hopes and expectations in 
their hour of trial. And considering the dis- 
tracted state of the country, the emptiness 
of the public treasury, and the badness of the 
materials for his armies, Santa Anna, during 
the present contest with this country, has cer- 



62 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



tainly done what few other men could do. — 
On his return from exile in Cuba, in October 
last, he gathered an army of 20,000 men, 
and, poorly supplied, pushed his march 
through tracts of burning sands, seven hun- 
dred miles ; gave General Taylor a hard fight; 
hastened back and quelled an insurrection 
and restored tranquility in the capital ; col- 
lected another force of 12,000 men, marched 
to meet the invading army, and made warm 
work for General Scott in the mountain pass 
ot Cerro Gordo. He has been accused of 



cowardice for flying from the field in seasor 
to effect a safe retreat ; but so long as he wat 
the head and soul of the nation, surely pat 
riotism would not dictate that he should 
throw away his life in battle, or permit him- 
self to fall into the hands of the enemy. 

Though a fallen hero, we should not be 
unwilling to render him whatever may be hie 
due: noi is it the part of candor to overlook 
the meliorating circumstances or the bright- 
er passages that relieve the gloomy annals oi 
his unfortunate country. 



CHAPTER V. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF MEXICO. 



Its Extent and Area. Remarkably varied surface — Mountains and Volcanoes. Wonder' 
ful formation of a new Volcano. Earthquakes. Rivers. Lakes. Climate. Soil. Ag- 
ricultural Productions. The Maguey. Pulque or Mexican Whisky. Manufactures. — 
Commerce. Seaports. Mines of Gold and Silver. Difficulties in the way of tcorking 
them. Battle between the Miners and Banditti Mint in the City of Mexico. The 
number of States. Towns and Cities ; Acapulco, Pucbla, Cholula, Vera Cruz, Alvarado. 
Querctaro, Valladolid, Guanaxuato, Guadalaxara, San Bias, Zacatccas, Aguas Cali- 
entes, Oaxaca, Peninsula of Yucatan, Campcachy , C/iiapa, Palanque, Tampico, Mata- 
moras, Monterey, Saltillo, Buenavista, San Louis Potosi, Chihuahua, Territories of New 
Mexico and Upper and Lower California. 



Mexico is an extensive territory, situated 
in the southern part of North America. Its 
length is about 2500 miles ; its breadth va- 
ries from 120 to 1200 miles ; and its whole 
surface contains an area of about 1,500,000 
square miles. 

The surface of the country is extremely 
varied ; and to this circumstance nearly as 
much as to the difference of latitude, in so 
extensive a country, may be attributed that 
singular variety of climate by which it is dis- 
tinguished from most other regions. The 
Cordilleras, or mountain chain which extends 
into Mexico from the south, andiseems to be 
a continuation of the Andes, diteges as it 
proceeds north into two 'great arms like the 
upper part of the letter Y, following the 
line of the coast on each side. The most 
westerly of these chains or that parallel to the 
shores of the Pacific, has some very high 
summits, and continues northward till it ex- 
tends into the United States, where it is 
called the Rocky Mountains. The eastern 



branch, from fifty to a hundred miles inland 
from the Gulf of Mexico, continues north- 
wardly till it subsides into the broad plains 
of Texas. The tract included between these 
ranges, comprising about three fifths of the 
surface of the republic, is a vast table land 
elevated from 0000 to 8000 feet above the 
sea. On account of this elevation this re- 
gion has a temperate climate, though much 
of the plateau is within the torrid zone. 
This table land is not intersected by any 
deep transverse valleys, and Humboldt re- 
marks that carriages proceed from the capital 
to Santa Fe in New Mexico, a distance of 
1500 miles, without any important deviation 
from an apparent level. 

The most important mountains are the 
following : Popocatapetl or the smoking 
mountain, 17,716 feet high, and the highest 
in Mexico. It is constantly throwing out its 
clouds of smoke, and sometimes ashes, but 
has hot for several centuries ejected lava. 
This mountain is covered with eternal snow ; 



64 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



it is in full view from the city of Mexico, in 
a south-easterly direction, and its glittering 
summit and clouds of smoke present a mag- 
nificent appearance. It is said that Cortez, 
being out of powder, at a time during the 
conquest, undertook to manufacture some. 
He obtained saltpetre from a mine, and a 
half dozen of his men with incredible toil 
climed up the snows and ice of Popocatapetl, 
and one of the, number was let down by a 
rope and basket, four hundred feet among 
the blue vapors, to obtain sulphur. Another 
snow-capt mountain southwest from Popocata- 
petl, and also in view from the city, is 
lztaccihuatl, or the ' white woman.' It is a 
volcanic mountain but has not been active 
apparently for ages, and hardly -any signs of 
a crater are to be seen. The most eastern 
volcano is Tuxtla, a few miles west of Vera 
Cruz. It had an eruption in 1793, the ashes 
of which were .carried to Perote, a distance 
of 150 miles. The first object the voyager 
sees as his vessel approaches Vera Cruz is 
the white peak of Orizava. It is about fifty 
miles from the coast and may be seen one 
hundred miles at sea. It is 17,400 feet high, 
and all above 15,092 feet is covered with 
snow, that being the point in that latitude at 
which the limit of perpetual snow com- 
mences. This is also a volcano. In the 
year 1545, it emitted smoke and ashes; but 
since that time there has been no eruption of 
any sort. 

Towards the Pacific, and nearly west of 
the capital, is the volcano of Colima, from 
which smoke and ashes are sometimes emit- 
ted but not lava. Between Colima* and 
Mexico is the Volcano of Jorullo. The for- 
mation of this volcano is quite recent, and is 
one of the most extraordinary phenomena 
which have been observed on our globe. 
The plain of Malpais, covered with small 
cones from six to ten feet in height, is part 
of an elevated table-land bounded by hills 
of basaltic rocks and the remains of ancient 
volcanic eruptions. From the period of the 



discovery of America to the middle of the 
last century, this district has undergone no 
change of surface, and the seat of the crater 
was then covered with a plantation of indigo 
and sugar cane; when, in June 1759, hollow 
sounds were heard, and a succession of 
earthquakes continued for two months, to the 
great consternation of the inhabitants. From 
the beginning of September everything 
seemed to announce the establishment of 
tranquility, but in the night of the 28th the 
frightful subterranean noises again com- 
menced. The Indians fled to the neighbor- 
ing mountains. A tract not less than from 
three to four square miles in extent rose up 
in the shape of a dome ; and those who wit- 
nessed the phenomenon asserted that the 
flames were seen issuing from a space of more 
than six square miles, while the fragments of 
burning rocks were projected to an immense 
height, and the surface of the ground un- 
dulated like an agitated sea. • 

Two brooks which watered the plantations 
precipitated themselves into the burning 
chasm. Thousands of the small cones, de- 
scribed above, suddenly appeared, and in the 
midst of these eminences, called ' hornitos' 
or ovens, six great masses, having an eleva- 
tion of from 1312 to 1640 feet above the 
original level of the plain, sprang up from a 
gulf running from the northeast to the south- 
west. The most elevated of these mounds is 
the great volcano of Jorullo which is con- 
stantly burning. 

The eruptions of this central volcano con- 
tinued till Febuary 1760, when they became 
less frequent. The Indians, who had aban- 
doned all the villages within thirty miles of 
it, returned once more to to their cottages, 
and advanced towards the mountains of 
Aguasarco and Santa Ines, to contemplate 
the streams of fire that issued from the num- 
berless apertures. The roofs of the houses 
of Queretaro, 166 miles distant, were covered 
with volcanic dust. Another eruption hap- 
pened in 1819, accompanied by an earth- 
quake, during which ashes fell at the city of 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



65 



Gaanaxauto, 140 miles distant from Jorullo, 
in such quantities as to lie six inches deep in 
the street?. 

It is a singular fact that thefe are five 
volcanoes nearly in a line from east to west 
on the nineteenth parallel of latitude ; which 
induces Humboldt to think that there is a 
seam or fissure in the rocky structure of the 
earth's crest, extending across Mexico, near- 
ly at right angles to the mountain ranges, 
and that these volcanoes are merely outlets 
above this seam through which escape the 
internal fires and vapors. Thase five vol- 
canoes, beginning at the east, are Tuxtla, 
Orizava, Popocatapetl, Jorullo, and Colima. 
Perote is a mountain of considerable eleva- 
tion, though not rising to the limit of per- 
petual snow. It is one of the points in the 
eastern range of the Cordilleras and is near 
the road from Vera Cruz to the city of Mex- 
ico. From the circumstance of its having an 
immense square rock on its summit, looking 
like a huge coffer or chest, it is called the 
Coffer of Perote. Another elevation is the 
peak of Toluca. 

Mexico is subject to earthquakes, but not 
very severe shocks. Countries that are well 
supplied with active volcanoes, which serve 
as vents for the steam and gasses within, are 
not often visited by destructive earthquakes. 
The rivers of Mexico are not very numerous 
nor, in general, of considerable magnitude, 
and are poorly adapted to inland navigation. 
The principal is the Rio Grande, which, 
rising in the northern part of the country, 
flows, by a south-easterly course obout 1800 
miles, into the gulf of Mexico. The Sacra- 
mento and Buenaventura are rivers of Upper 
California, of which, however, our knowl- 
edge is extremely slight. The Colorado of 
the West is a large river, 900 miles in length, 
but its course is through countries thinly 
peopled and little known. It falls into the 
Gulf of California, after receiving the Gila, 
a considerable stream. 

The lakes of this country are numerous, 
but none of them appear to be of great ex- 



tent. The valley of Mexico contains five 
small lakes, on which, floating gardens, made 
by a sort of raft covered with a layer of rich 
earth, were once numerous ; but they are 
now mostly fixed, though some are still move- 
able. The only well-known lake, on a con- 
siderable scale, is that of Chapala, which is 
estimated to contain an area of about 1300 
square miles. The Tule lakes in Upper Cal- 
iforna, and some others, near the northern 
boundary of Mexico, and are said to be con- 
siderable bodies of water, as yet they are but 
little known. 

In regard to climate, soil and the varied 
productions of nature, Mexico is one of the 
most favored lands in the world ; and there 
is no country that would experience so little 
inconvenience from having its ports block- 
aded ; for, as Humblodt remarks, under care- 
ful cultivation it is capable of producing all 
that commerce brings together from every 
part of the globe; sugar, cochineal, cocoa, 
cotton, coffee, wheat, hemp, flax, silk, oil, 
wine, oranges, lemons, and the unnumbered 
fruits and flowers of tropical and temperate 
regions. 

Difference of elevation has the same effect 
as difference of latitude. The tracts of low 
land on the eastern and western coasts, have 
the temperature and vegetable productions 
of the West Indies, and in ascending the 
sides of the Cordileras there is a gradual 
dimunition of temperature and change of 
vegetation; upon the vast table land are the 
climate, grains, and plants of the temperate 
regions, and higher up the mountain sides 
are the dark belts of pine and fir of the fro- 
zen zones. So that in passing from Vera 
Cruz to the central regions the traveller, in 
two days' time, observes all the gradations 
of climate and vegetable productions that he 
would in going from the equator to the arc- 
tic regions. 

Besides the potatoe and other nutritive 
roots, corn and the various other grains, a 
very important article of sustenence is the 
Banana, or bread-plant as it is sometimes 



m 



THE HISTORY OP MEXICO, 



tailed; a gigantic production, the fruit of 
which is often three or four inches in diame- 
ter and seven or eight inches in length. It 
is said that there is no plant that produces 
on the same extent of land and with so little 
labor, the same quantity of food. Humboldt 
asserts that an acre planted With bananas 
will furnish food for more than fifty individu- 
als, whereas the same extent of land if sown 
with wheat in Europe, would not support 
more than two individuals. And all the la* 
bor required to raise this enormous product 
is to cut off the stems when the fruit is ripe, 
and to give the earth a slight digging about the 
roots of the plant once of twice a year. — • 
'Hence, 'says he, ' nothing strikes a European 
recently arrived in Mexico with more astonish* 
ment than the smallness of the patches of 
cultivated grounds round cabins that swarm 
with children.' 

But the most remarkable and apparently 
the most essential plant is the Maguey or 
American Agave, inasmuch as a stimulating 
beverage is obtained from it. It has been 
called the vine of Mexico. In good soil it 
grows to an enormous size, being a foot 
through at the butt, and the central stem 
twenty-five or thirty feet high. When the 
plant is in its efflorescent state which occurs 
in from seven to fifteen years after the plant- 
ing, the centre stock is cut off above the 
joint of the branches, forming a bowl in 
which the sap collects. The juice] ob- 
tained from a vigorous plant amount to a 
gallon or more a day, for four or five months 
in succession. The juice is slightly acid and 
after fermentation it becomes pulque, as they 
call it, and possesses somewhat of the virtues 
and excellent qualities of cider ! from this, 
by distillation, they obtain a sort of whisky 
or brandy. They also obtain ardent spirits 
from sugar-cane, corn and other grains. So 
it appears that among the comforts of life the 
Mexicans are not destitute of the intoxicating 
beverages. 

It is said that the pulque has a disagree- 
able and disgusting smell and taste till one 



becomes accustomed to it. Whether our sol 
diers have overcome this difficulty I am not 
aware; should judge so, however, from the 
fact that the anti-license Generals Gushing 
and Worth abolished the pulque shops in 
Matamoras and Vera Cruz. 

It appears the Mexicans are not very much 
given to changes except those of government, 
for they still retain the old and new bottles of 
scripture times. Mr. Thompson says, ' the 
juice of the maguey is first put into an ox- 
hide, dressed and made perfectly tight.— 
There the liquor ferments, when it is drawn 
off into smaller vessels, made of the skin of 
a hog, and in these it is carried to market. 
The modern inventions of hogsheads and 
barrels have by no means come into com- 
mon use in Mexico. These skins look for all 
the world like a hog cleaned and dressed. I 
saw them every day, hanging in front of the 
pulque shops as a sign, and I had been some 
time in Mexico before I discovered that they 
were not really porkers.' 

As an agricultural country, Mexico has 
been celebrated for the vast variety of pro* 
ductions which can be raised in its soil, ac- 
cording to the different degrees of elevation 
at which cultivation is carried on. It is di- 
vided into warm lands, temperate lands, and 
cold lands. The warm or low lands of the 
coast, though capable of yielding in profusion 
all the productions of the torrid zone, are 
subject to so deadly a pestilence, that even 
the natives prefer to inhabit a poorer soil on 
the higher grounds ; and Europeans, except 
the few fixed by commercial pursuits, pass 
through it in trembling haste, as if death 
pursued them. The cold or high lands, 
again, are nearly devoid of vegetation, exhib- 
iting on a few scattered spots the plants of 
the north. It is only on the ' temperate 
lands' that the real and effective vegetation 
exists; and there the finest plants of the most 
genial temperate climates are produced in 
higher perfection than in most other parts of 
the known world. 

The wheat of Mexico excels that of most 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



67 



other countries, both in quality and abun- 
dance, provided that by nature or art it has 
been supplied during growth with sufficient 
moisture. Indian corn, the proper grain of 
America, is still more generally cultivated, 
and torms the standing food of the people. 
Its harvests are equally profuse. Barley and 
rye grow on the colder grounds ; the first 
forming the chief food of horses. Farther 
down grows the banana, which, though the 
proper food of the torrid zone, grow^ so high, 
that Humboldt calculates 50,000 square miles 
may be fit for it. Of all vegetables it yields the 
greatest proportion of aliment with the least 
culture. The manioc root, under the same 
climate, can be made to produce abundance 
of palatable and wholesome food. 

Sugar, coffee, and cotton, are all produced 
of excellent quality, but only for internal 
use ; and cocoa, though an universal bever- 
age, is procured by importation. Cochineal 
is almost the only article collected extensive- 
ly for export. This is a small insect, used for 
dyeing a bright scarlet. It grows in myriads 
on the cactus or prickly pear, which is raised 
in plantations for this purpose. The culture 
is laborious, and has diminished of late, but 
the price has not increased, substitutes being 
employed. There is also indigo, but it is in- 
ferior to that of Guatimala. Vanilla, the fla- 
voring material of the chocolate, is obtained 
in the forests of Oxacca and Vera Cruz ; and 
exported to the amount of 40,000 or 59,000 
dollars annually. 

Manufactures in Mexico are in a very rude 
state. There are, however, considerable fab- 
rics of coarse red earthenware and glass ; 
also, manufactures of coarse woollens and 
cottons. Working in gold and silver has 
been a favorite occupation. Services of 
plate, worth 30,000 or 40,000 dollars, have 
been manufactured at Mexico, which, for el-* 
egance and fine workmanship, may rival the 
best of the kind in Europe. The coaches of 
Mexico have long been celebrated both for 
good construction and beauty , it being the 
particular ambition of all, who possibly can, 
to have their coach. 



The commerce of Mexico does not corres- 
pond with its great fame for wealth. The 
exports of the precious metals form the prin- 
cipal article ; next to this is cochineal, to 
which may be added sugar, indigo, vanilla, 
sarsaparilla, jalap, logwood, and pimento. 
The annual exports, including the precious 
metals, amount to about 20,000,000 dollars ; 
the imports are considerably less. Under 
the Spanish government, Vera Cruz and Aca- 
pulco had a monopoly of the trade of Mexi- 
co ; but since the revolution a considerable 
amount has centred in other ports, of which 
the chief are, in the northern part of the 
gulf, Tampico and Matamoras ; Campeachy 
and Tabasco in the south ; San Bias and Ma- 
zatlan, on the western coast, and Guayamaa 
in the Gulf of California. 

The mines of gold and silver, however, are 
the grand objects which have connected the 
idea of unbounded wealth and romantic splen- 
dor with the name of Mexico. 

In point of mineral treasures, Mexico ex- 
cels every other part of America except, per 
haps, Peru. The quantity of silver annually 
obtained from its mines, very much, exceeds 
that furnished by all the mines of Europe; 
but on the other hand, the gold is not much 
more abundant than in Hungary and Tran- 
sylvania ; the proportion which the gold of 
Mexico bears to the silver, being as 1 to 20 
nearly. Before the war of independence, 
which commenced in 1810. There were 37 
mining districts in Mexico, and somewhat 
more than 3000 mines, producing annually 
about 21 million dollars in silver and about 2 
millions in gold. Towards the close of the 
struggle many of the mines had been deserted 
and the produce diminished one half. 

Many companies have been formed, sever- 
al English, and one or two under the direc- 
tion of Americans, and vast sums have been 
expended in machinery and mining opera- 
tions, which) though the mines have been 
productive, have not been very profitable to 
the proprietors. There are many obstacles 
in the way of the mining interests. The dis- 



63 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



traded state of the country since the revolu- 
tion, the conflicting claims and titles to the 
mineral lands, the imperfect mining process- 
es, the badness of the roads, and the general 
insecurity of property, all, tend to discourage 
these enterprises. M. Chevailer, thus speaks 
of the state of things in 1835, ' How,' asks he, 
' can the mines be worked with any feeling of 
security,when it requires a little army to escort 
the smallest portion of the precious metal to its 
place of destination ? Between the mine of 
Real del Monte and the village of Tezeyuco 
is a mountain pass where a grand battle was 
fought between the miners and the banditti 
of the country. The miners were defeated, 
overpowered by numbers, but not without 
having sold their lives as dearly as possible. 
The mine is now guarded by artillery and 
grape shot, and the Englishmen employed 
there are regularly drilled in the use of the 
musket.' 

' The mineral riches of the country,' says 
McCulloch, ' are inexhaustible, and there 
only wants a government able and willing to 
afford security to make the produce of the 
mines greater than ever. Many of the mines 
have been very imperfectly wrought, and by 
far the larger part of the richest veins is yet 
unexplored.' 

In the departments of Mexico, Guanaxato, 
Zacatecas, Jalisco, Durango, San Louis Po- 
tosi, and Chihuhua, the total product of the 
mines annually, for the years 1834-5-6-7, was 
about twelve millions dollars. 

The official returns for the year, 1842 ex- 
hibit an exportation of gold and silver, as 
registered at the custom-houses, amounting 
to 18,500,000 dollars. 

The country also produces quicksilver, tin, 
zinc, copper and iron. But people are not 
apt to dig for iron while they can find gold. — 
Hence no iron mine was worked in Mexico 
till 1825. Previous to which, and even now, 
their iron is chiefly imported. C.ortez, in one 
of his despatches to King Charles V., speaks 
of the great expense of keeping the horses of 
his cavalry shod ; for, says he, a horse shoe 



is worth its weight in gold and twice its 
weight in silver'. But his illustrious descend- 
ants obviate the difficulty, as we are told, by 
letting their war-ponies go barefoot. 

The mint in the city of Mexico is a pro- 
digious establishment, in which all the pro- 
cesses are carried on with the greatest activi- 
ty. It is capable of stamping 100,000 dollars 
within the hour. So rapid an operation is 
seldom required ; yet there have passed 
through it probably upwards of three thousand 
million dollars. 

The want of harbors must ever prevent 
Mexico from being a great maritime power. 
There are a few excellent harbors on the Pa- 
cific, but nearly the whole of the Gulf coast 
is sloping and sandy. Even the harbor of 
Vera Cruz is hardly worthy of the name, it 
being an open roadstead, with a poor anchor- 
age, and exposed to the furious north 
winds. 

The territory of the republic was divided 
by the constitution of 1824 into nineteen 
states, four territories and the Federal Dis- 
tricts. 

Though the sciences of mining, geometry, 
architecture, and astronomy, have received 
some attention in Mexico, yet the greakbody 
of the people are deplorably ignorant. This 
is owing to the illiberal policy of the Spanish 
government, which confided all civil, milita- 
ry, and ecclesiastical dignities only to Eu- 
peans, and discouraged the education of 
those classes which now compose the popula- 
tion of the republic. Since the revolution, 
the country has been too much disturbed to 
allow the cure of this disorder, yet steps have 
already been taken in the different States 
towards providing means for general educa- 
tion. 

Acapulco, on the west coast, 200 miles 
'from Mexico, is one of the most magnificent 
harbors in the world, seeming as if it were ex- 
cavated by art out of a vast circuit of granite 
rocks, which shut out all view of the sea. 
Yet while Vera Cruz, with its wretched an- 
chorage amid sand-banks, annually received 



THE HISTOR.Y OF MEXICO. 



69 



from 400 to 500 vessels, that of Acapulco 
scarcely received 10, even in the time of the 
Manilla galleon, the discontinuance of which 
reduced it to a state of insignificance. It 
has, however, of late, considerably revived; 
and its customs, after falling so low as 10,000 
had risen in 1841 to $400,000. 

Puebla, the capital of the State of Puebla, 
is a handsome and large city. It is now oc- 
cupied by the American army under General 
Scott, and is about eighty miles from the city 
of Mexico. It is entirely Spanish, having 
been founded since the conquest. The 
houses are large and lofty, the walls often 
covered with paintings, while the roof is or- 
namented with glazed tiles. The cathedral 
is a vast pile, with little external ornament: 
but the interior is rich beyond description. 
The high altar is composed of the most beau- 
tiful marble and precious stones; its numer- 
ous and lofty columns, with plinths and capi- 
tals of burnished gold, its statues and other 
ornaments, have an unequalled effect. In 
manufactures it takes the lead of other Mex- 
ican cities : those of woollen have declined ; 
but those of earthenware and glass are still 
flourishing. It is somewhat extensively en- 
gaged in cotton manufactures, and has been 
called the Lowell of Mexico. The popula- 
tion is estimated at about 80,000. 

Cholula, the ancient capital of a great in- 
dependent republic, has declined into a town 
containing 6000 souls. The pyramid of 
Cholula is the work of art which, next to the 
pyramids of Egypt, approaches nearest in 
magnitude and vastness to those of nature. 
It is not nearly so high as the greatest Egyp- 
tian pyramid, being only 172 feet; but the 
length is nearly double; 1355 feet, instead of 
728. 

Vera Cruz, in which centres almost all 
the trade of Mexico, is well and handsomely 
built, and its red and white cupolas, towers, 
and battlements, have a splendid effect when 
seen from the water. The streets also are 
kept extremely neat and clean ; yet it is con- 
sidered the most disagreeable of all places of 
5 



residence. This arises not merely from the 
pestilence which taints the air ;■ the surround- 
ing country is covered with sand blown into 
hillocks, which, reflecting the rays of the sun, 
render the heat more oppressive. Vera Cruz 
is about two hundred miles from Tampico, 
and two hundred and fifty from the city of 
Mexico by the usual route. 

This place appears to have sensibly de- 
clined since the dissolution of the ties which 
connected Mexico with the mother country. 
The population is about 7000. The castle 
of San Juan de Ulua, the last hold of Spain 
in the New World, and which commands the 
entrance of the port, has been long thought 
to be of immense strength, but was, notwith- 
standing, captured with comparative ease by 
a small French squadron. 

The fine calzada, or paved road, from Vera 
Cruz into the interior, runs up to the hand- 
some town of Jalapa. The Puente Nacion- 
al, or National Bridge, between the two cities, 
is a stupendous work of solid masonry, 
thrown over a wild and steep ravine, through 
which runs the rapid river Antigua. Jalapa 
is commodiously situated in a delightful dis- 
trict, about 4000 feet above the sea. It has 
12,000 inhabitants, and was formerly the 
residence of the rich Spanish merchants of 
Vera Cruz during the sickly season. The 
neighborhood is finely wooded, and is partic- 
ularly remarkable for the medical article ja- 
lap, which takes its name from the city. 

On the coast, to the southward, are the 
ports of Alvarado and Huasacualco, the 
former of which became the principal entre- 
pot on the gulf, during the occupation of San 
Juan de Ulua by the Spanish forces; and the 
latter derives some interest from its situation 
at the termination of the proposed canal from 
the Gulf of Mexico to that of Tehuantepec, 
about 120 miles. 

Oueretaro, the capital of a State of the 
same name, is one of the most beautiful and 
delightfully situated, as well as one of the 
most industrious and wealthy cities of Mexi- 
co. The streets all cross each other at ri<rh.t 



70 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



angles, and terminate in its three principal 
squares. Its aqueduct, about ten miles in 
length, with its bold and lofty arches, and its 
splendid churches and convents, give the city 
an air of magnificence. The convent of 
Santa Clara is more than two miles in cir- 
cuit. Population, 40,000. 

Valladolid, the capital of the state of Mich- 
oacan, contains 25,000 inhabitants ; it is de- 
lightfully situated, 6300 feet above the sea, 
where snow sometimes falls. There are sev- 
eral mines in the vicinity, but none of first 
rate magnitude. It has wide, clean streets, 
a magnificent cathedral, and a handsome pla- 
za or public square. 

Guauaxuto, the capital of the state of the 
same name, is situated in the midst of a rich 
mining district, is built on very uneven 
ground, and the streets are often very steep ; 
but the buildings are in general,, handsome, 
and some of the churchs are very fine ; the 
alhondiga, or public granary, an immense 
quadrangular edifice, is a remarkable object. 
The population of the city and neighborhood 
has been reduced from 90,000 to about two- 
thirds of that number. 

Guadalaxara, the capital of Jalisco, which 
in 1798 was estimated to contain 19,500 in- 
habitants, has at present 60,000. It is regu- 
larly laid out with wide, straight streets, and 
and contains many handsome churches and 
convents. The mountain of Colima in this 
state, 9000 feet high, throws out smoke and 
ashes, and forms the western extremity of the 
volcanic chain which traverses Mexico from 
east to west. 

San Bias is situated near the mouth of the 
Rio Grande, and during a certain season of 
the year, it is extremely unhealthy, and at 
that time the rain falls in such torrents that 
no roof can exclude it, and it is impossible 
without danger to go out into the streets. — 
At the commencement of this season, there- 
fore, a general migration takes place ; and 
the population is reduced in a few days from 
3000 to 150, at which it remains stationary 
until the return of the dry season. Tepic, 



eighteen leagues from San Bias, is a beauti- 
ful town, in the midst of a cultivated plain, 
and its streets regularly laid out, are enlivened 
by rows of trees, gardens and terraces.- — 
Thither the people of San Bias remove during 
the sickly season, at which time the popula- 
tion of Tepic amounts to 8000 or 10,000. 

Zacatecas, the capital of the state of Za- 
catecas, contains 38,000 inhabitants. The 
mint, which is the second in point of impor- 
tance in Mexico, employs 3000 persons and 
60,000 dollars have been coined here in 
twenty-four hours. The total coinage in five 
years, from 1821 to 1826, was upwards of 
17,500,000 dollars. Aguas Calientes, in the 
vicinity of Zacatecas, derives its name from 
its warm springs, is a pretty town, in a fer- 
tile district, and with a delightful climate. — 
The inhabitants about 20,000 in number, 
carry on some manufactures. Fresnillo, Som- 
brerete, and Pinos, are mining towns with 
from 12,000 16,000 inhabitants. 

Oaxaca, the capital of *he state of the 
same name, called Antequera at the time of 
the conquest, is a flourishing place ; in 1792, 
it had 24,000 inhabitants, and although it 
suffered severely during the revolution, its 
present population is about 40,000. Tehu- 
antepec, its only port, is not a good one • 
but is of considerable value as a channel by 
which the indigo of Guatimala is conveyed to 
Europe. 

The peninsula of Yucatan, forms the east- 
ern extremity of Mexico. It is a vast plain, 
only intersected by a chain of mountains, 
which do not rise above 4000 feet. This was 
the first part of Mexico in which the Span- 
iards landed, and, though it is less improved 
than the interior, they .found, to their sur- 
prise, indications that civilization was in a 
more advanced state here than in the islands,* 
stone houses, pyramidal temples, enclosed 
fields, and a e4othed and civilized people. — 
Merida, the capital, is a small town. Cam- 
peachy, also a small town, is, however, a for- 
tified place, and is important on account of 
its harbor, from which is shipped the logwood 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



71 



cut in the vicinity. Population, about 6000. 
Chiapa formed the most northerly district 
of Guaiimala ; but the greater part of it, on 
a late occasion, separated itself from Guate- 
mala, and united with Mexico. The soil is 
fertile, and capable of yielding, in profusion, 
tropical fruits and grain. Though low, yet 
it is free from damp, and not unhealthful. 

Chiapa of the Spaniards, called also Ciu- 
dad Real, though ranking as the capital, is 
now only a small place of 4000 inhabitants. 
Chiapa of the Indians is larger, and carries 
on a considerable trade. 

Near Palenque are seen the remains of the 
great ancient city of Calhuacan. Fourteen 
large buildings, called by the natives the 
Stone Houses, remain nearly entire ; and for 
three or four leagues either way, the frag- 
ments of the other fallen buildings are seen 
extending along the mountain. They are of 
a rude and massive construction, well calcu- 
lated for durability ; and the principal apart- 
ments are adorned with numerous figures in 
relief, representing human beings of strange 
form, and variously habited and adorned. 

Tuspan is a small port 75 miles south of 
Tampico. It was taken by the American 
squadron under Commodore Perry last 
spring. 

Tampico, near the mouth of the river of 
the same name, was founded in 1824, and 
has rapidly increased on account of its com- 
mercial advantages, which have drawn thith- 
er the inhabitants of Altamira, once a place 
of some importance. Tampico is one of the 
towns now in possession of the American 
troops ; it is 300 miles from Mexico. It is a 
sickly place, and has a poor harbor, the 
mouth of the river having a sand bar across 
it, which can be passed only by boats. It 
has about 5000 inhabitants, but it suffers un- 
der a want of good water. Further north, on 
the Santander, is the port of Soto la Marina, 
with some trade ; and on the south bank of 
the Rio Grande at no great distance from its 
mouth is Matamoras, the first Mexican town 
taken by the Mexican army in the present 



war, it being the prize of victory, May, 1846. 

Above two hundred miles west of Matamo- 
ras is Monterey, the chief town of the State 
of New Leone, which will hereafter be noted 
in history for the hard fought battles around 
it, and its surrender to Gen. Taylor and his 
brave troops. Population about 12,000. 

Some sixty miles south west of Monterey 
is Saltillo, for some time the head-quarters of 
the American army ; and ten or twelve miles 
south of this is Buenavista, the scene of the 
hardest fought battle that has taken place, 
or perhaps will take place, between the Amer- 
ican and Mexican armies. Buenavista, (the 
beautiful view,) has added another to the 
bloody fields which are sprinkled all over 
the surface of the Mexican republic. 

San Luis Potosi, the capital of the state of 
the same name, is one of the most important 
inland towns in Mexico, being the depot of 
the trade of Tampico with the northern and 
western parts of the republic. It is well 
built, and contains several convents remark- 
able for their extent, a mint, a college, and 
numerous churches. Population, 50,000. — 
It is about midway between Monterey and 
Mexico, and some 350 miles from each. 

Durango, the capital of the state of Duran- 
go, is a well-built town, with a mint, in which 
the silver of the vicinity is coined. It con- 
tains 25,000 inhabitants. 

Chihuahua, the capital of Chihuahua, is 
well-built, and contains some costly church- 
es, monasteries, and other public edifices ; 
but the population has been reduced from 
50,000 to one-third of that number. The 
rich mines of Santa Julalia, in its vicinity, 
once yielded 5,000,000 dollars a year. In 
the western part of the State are the Casas 
Grandes, or ruins of large square buildings, 
whose sides are accurately ranged north and 
south; a space of several leagues is covered 
with these remains, consisting of aqueducts 
and various other structures. 

Sonora and Sinaloa embrace a vast tract 
lying along the Gulf of California. The 
southern part only contains some white in- 



T& 



THE HISTORY OP MEXICO. 



habitants, the centre and north being occu- 
pied by various Indian tribes ; many of whom 
are civilized and industrious. This region 
contains rich silver mines ; gold is obtained 
from washings, and auriferous copper ore 
abounds. There are also valuable pearl fish- 
eries. Wheat, hides, furs, gold, silver, and 
copper, are exported. Guaymas, on the Gulf 
of California, is said to be the best harbor of 
Mexico, but the town is unhealthful, and the 
water brackish. Population, 8000. Petic, 
in the interior, is the residence of the wealthy 
merchants, and a place of considerable trade, 
being the depot of articles imported into 
Guaymas for Upper Sonora and New Mexi- 
co. It contains about 5,000 inhabitants. 

Alamos is a place of about 6000 inhabi- 
tants, having in its vicinity some of the rich- 
est silver-mines in Mexico. Mazatlan has a 
good harbor, though exposed to the south- 
west winds. 

The territory of New Mexico is only an in- 
fant settlement, formed on the upper part of 
the Rio Grande, in a fertile tract of land, but 
having a climate remarkably cold, consider- 
ing the latitude. A great number of sheep 
are reared, ot which about 30,000 are sent 
every year to the southward ; and there are 
some mines of valuable copper. Santa Fe, 
the capital, contains about 5000 inhabitants. 
The caravan route from the state of Missouri 
terminates here. 

Lower California is a long peninsula in 
the Pacific, parallel to the continent, from 
which it is separated by its deep gulf 800 
miles long and from 50 to 100 wide. The 
soil is sandy and arid, and only a few favored 
spots present a trace of vegetation. There 
are about 7000 or 8000 white inhabitants 
and converted Indians, and 4000 savages. 
The missions have.been pretty much broken 
up since the revolution. Loretto, once a 
place of some note, now contains about 250 
inhabitants. 

New or Upper Calitornia is a vast tract ex- 
tending north from Lower California to the 
latitude of 42 ° . A lofty ridge of mountains 



runs along its western side, not far from the 
sea, forming the prolongation of the moun- 
tains of the peninsula, and extending north 
beyond the Columbia river. Along the coast 
some missions have been founded, and some 
settlements of whites effected. The former 
are now rapidly declining. There are 21 
establishments, containing about 7000 con- 
verts. These are India ns, who have from 
time to time, been forced to join the missions. 
They are kindly treated, but are not allowed 
to leave the settlements ; and the surplus of 
their labor belongs to the missionaries ; the 
missions have about 300,000 head of cattle. 

The coast has some excellent harbors, 
among which is that of St. Francisco, which 
affords perfect security to ships of any bur- 
then, with plentiful supplies of fresh beef, 
vegetables, wood, and fresh water. Monte- 
rey, the principal town of Upper California, 
has 3000 inhabitants. 

On the eastward of the coast above men- 
tioned, and extending to the Colorado and 
the rocky mountains, is a vast sandy plain, 
about 200 miles in width by 500 in length, 
consisting of a bare, arid surface, with some 
isolated mountains interspersed here and 
there over its dreary bosom. 

' Agriculture,' says M. Chevalier, ' is neg- 
lected. No law now prevents the planting 
of the vine and the olive tree; not only, 
however, has no advantage been taken of this 
change, but the very lands which were culti- 
vated in the time of the Spaniards are now 
lying fallow. In a circle of a few leagues 
round Mexico, I have seen large villages al- 
most abandoned. In this delightful climate, 
the only manure which the land requires is 
water; this is rather scace, yet many of the 
hydraulic constructions, raised by the Span- 
iards at a great cost, are in ruins and seem 
likely to remain so. The lands, which by 
means of artificial irrigation were the most 
fertile in the world, are gradually becoming 
completely sterile. Their ploughs and other 
agricultural instruments are of the rudest 
description. No one troubles himself to in- 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



73 



troduce European improvements, or even to 
import better tools from the United States. — 
I made the passage from New Orleans to 
Vera Cruz with General Arista, who had 
been exiled in consequence of some insur- 
rection or other in which he had been con- 
cerned. Wearied with the changes of 
revolutions, he had determined to devote 
himself to agriculture. He had scarely, how- 
ever, landed at Vera Cruz, when he was 
thrown into prison, upon some vague pretext ; 
and continued for a long time under arrest, 
and his ploughs, harrows, and winnowing ma- 
chines, remained under sequestration, sus- 
pected, probably, of abetting the General in 
some subversive design.' 

The Maguey has been spoken of in a for- 
mer part of the chapter, but to show what 
uses the ancient Mexicans made of it, the 
following paragraph is inserted from Pres- 
cott's History of the Conquest : 

' But the miracle of nature was the great 
Mexican aloe, or maguey, whose clustering 
pyramids of flowers, towering above their 



dark coronals of leaves were seen sprinkled 
over many a broad acre of tableland. As we 
have already noticed, its bruised leaves af- 
forded a paste from which paper was manu- 
j factured ; its juice was fermented into an in- 
toxicating beverage, pulque, of which the na- 
tives, to this day, are excessively fond ; its 
leaves further supplied an impenetrable thatch 
for the more humble dwellings ; thread, of 
which coarse stuffs were made, and strong 
cords, were drawn from its tough and twisted 
fibres ; pins and needles were made of the 
thorns at the extremity of its leaves ; and the 
root, when properly cooked, was converted 
into a palatable and nutritious food. The 
agave, in short, was meat, drink, clothing, 
and writing materials for the Aztec. Surely, 
never did nature enclose in so compact a 
form so many of the elements of human com- 
fort and civilization !' 



Note. — In addition to the authorities named, a 
portion of this chapter has been derived from 
Murray's ' Encyclopedia of Geography,' and 
Mitchell's ' Geographical Reader.' 



CHAPTER VI. 



CITY OF MEXICO. 



THE CHURCH, ITS WEALTH. 
ARMY. 



POPULATION. THE 



The Mexican Valley and Lakes. Chinampas or Floating Gardens. Diminution of the 
Waters of the Lakes. The present City of Mexico, founded by Cortez. Plaza Mayor 
or Great Square. Churches. Palace of the President. College. Public Prison. Am- 
phitheatre. Cigar Manufactory . Museum. TJic Streets. Passeo or Public Carnage 

Way. Vehicles, Ladies, Cavaliers. The Alameda or Public Promenade. Colonades. 
Environs. The Weather. Population of the City. Wecdth of the Churches. The 
Great Cathedral — Its Interior — Enormous Treasures — Huge Chandelier — Image of the 

Virgin loaded with Pearls and Diamonds. The Catholic Religion in Mexico. Influ- 
ence of the Clergy. Attempts to Confiscate the Church Property. Intolerance^ Burial 
Refused to Protestants. Egotism of the Mexicans. A Scene of Penance. The Pres- 
ent War and the Church. Population of the Republic. Various Races. Political 
Rights. Character and Condition of the present Indian Race. Causes of Anarchy. — 
A Colonel turned Robber. Banditti. Robbery of Mr. Gushing. The Army. Mode 
of Recruiting. Inferiority of Mexican to American Soldiers. Patriotism of the Mex- 
icans. Siege of Vera Cruz. Description of the Castle of St. Juan de Ulua. Landing 
of General Scfitt's Army. A Mexican Hero. 



The valley of Mexico, in which the city is 
situated, occupies the tableland from six to 
eight thousand feet high, about midway 
between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific 
Ocean. It is an oval basin 63 miles in length 
by 43 in breadth, and is surrounded by a 
battlement of porphyritic and basaltic rocks 
and mountains varying from two thousand to 
ten thousand feet in height. On the south 
are the two collossal summits of Popocatapetl 
and Iztaccihuatl. The former more than 
two thousand feet higher than the monarch of 
Europe, • Mont Blanc. There they stand, 
like faithful sentinels of the enchanted val- 
ley. The flashing of their silver sheens of 
eternal snow proclaims the rising sun long 
before his level beams salute the eyes of 
mortals ; and while the gray twilight begins 
to settle over the plains, the clouds of smoke 
from the hoary summit of Popocatapetl are 



illumined by the rays of the day god from far 
belotv the western horizon. 

The valley of Mexico inclosed within this 
rampart of hills and mountains contains 1700 
square miles. In the lowest portions of this 
basin are several lakes, the waters of which 
cover a surface of 170 square miles, or about 
one tenth of the valley. In the north-western 
part of this valley on the borders of Tezcuco, 
the largest of the lakes, stands the city of 
Mexico, occupying precisely the same spot 
as at the time of the conquest; although at 
that time it was surrounded by water and 
approached by three dykes or causeways. 

These lakes were once sprinkled over with 
chianmpas or floating gardens. From the 
marshy borders, in times of flood, portions of 
land .were separated, and, covered with 
herbs and bound together by roots, they 
floated on the water. Sometimes several of 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



these were driven together by the wind and 
formed a little island. These were taken 
possession of and cultivated, and were moved 
from place to place, sometimes having small 
trees upon them and the huts of the Indians 
who tended them. Artificial chinampas 
were made of reeds, roots and brushwood 
compacted together and covered with rich 
earth. Thus with a fertile soil and supplied 
with moisture from the water beneath, they af- 
forded a luxuriant growth of vegetable pro- 
ductions, and the richest variety of flowers, 
the last of which were cultivated with great 
care by the native Mexicans, who are ex- 
cessively fond of these sweet decorations of 
Nature. 

This delightful valley, encircled by its | 
magnificent panorama of mountains : the 
lovely shores, dotted with groves and villages 
which seemed to rise out of the water ; these 
aquatic domains floating on the ample bosom 
of the, lake cultivated and adorned by Na- 
ture's own children ; the Indian maidens 
(fit successors to the Nymphs and Naiads) 
with their sparkling eyes and long black 
hair, passing to and fro in their light canoes 
decked out "with fruits and flowers, what 
more fairy-like and enchanting ! No wonder 
that to many of the Spaniards ' it appeared 
doubtful whether they were asleep or awake,' 
when they first looked upon this Eden of the 
western world. But alas ! the spell is broken, 
the flowery islands no longer float on the 
silvery lake, but are fixed to the dull shores; 
the ancient possessor no longer treads them 
with the firm step and noble bearing of free- 
dom, nor does the maid of the ebon hair 
lash the sparkling waters with the same 
elastic stroke as when she called her lord, 
the lord of the soil. Their office now is, to 
cultivate lands that are not their own, and 
administer to the wants of those who have 
despoiled them of their ancient inheritance. 

But to return from the chinampas. Ow- 
ing to the increased evaporation caused by 
cutting down the ancient forests, and to the 
drainage of the higher lakes to prevent the 



inundation of the city, to which it was for- 
merly subject, the waters of lake Tezcuco 
are somewhat diminished, and the city instead 
of being on an island is a mile and a half 
from the western shore of the lake ; though 
the great square is only four feet above the 
level of the water. The road in the direction 
of Vera Cruz for sixteen or eighteen miles 
passes over a raised causeway through the 
lakes. The ancient dykes on the north, 
west and south still remain, though they are 
now merely high paved roads leading through 
the marshy land instead of the water as 
formerly. 

The present city of Mexico is said to be 
one of the most beautiful and splendid on 
the western continent ; not excepting Phila- 
delphia for regularity and beauty of arrange- 
ment. Its situation, with its landscape of 
hills valley and lakes, is the most picturesque 
imaginable. The ground it occupies is al- 
most a perfect level, the buildings of the 
ancient city having been used in filling up 
the canals and levelling the inequalities. 
The plan of the city was designed by Cortez, 
who showed as much taste arid skill in found- 
ing and building up the queen city of a 
future empire, as he had shown prowess in 
laying that of a past one in the dust. The 
buildings are constructed of stone, and have 
flat roofs, covered with brick or tiles strong- 
ly cemented so as to make them fire and 
water proof, and are surrounded by parapets, 
which make the houses serve as castles. 

The Plaza mayor, or great square, is one 
of the finest to be seen in any metropolis. It 
contains twelve acres, and is paved with 
hewn stone, and many an army, in war and 
in peace, has manceuvered on this splendid 
parade ground. On the east side of this 
square is the Cathedral, occupying the site 
of the great idol temple, where human vic- 
tims used to be offered up to their horrid 
deities, and, as a writer remarks, as if to 
complete the triumphs of the cross the foun- 
dations of the Cathedral are laid upon the 
broken images of the Aztec gods. On the 



76 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



north side extending the entire length of the 
square is the Palace ; formerly the palace of 
the Viceroys; since, the palace of the Em- 
peror, the President or the Dictator, as the 
case happened to be. It is 500 feet long 
and 350 wide. But a small portion of it is 
appropriated to the use of the President. 
The building contains the halls of the Senate 
and house of Deputies ; the offices of the 
different departments of war, state treasury 
&c. Connected with the palace is a botanic 
garden ; but according to the descriptions it 
compares but poorly with the splendid gar- 
dens of Montezuma. On the south side of 
the great square are shops and private dwell- 
ings, and on the west a row of very high 
substantial houses, the second stories of 
which project over the side walk, and the 
lower stories are occupied by the principle 
retail merchants of the city. The most of 
these houses were built by Cortez, who, as it 
appears by this, had the good judgment to 
select the best part of the city for himself. 
Many of the finest buildings in the city are 
still owned by his descendants. Nearly all 
the houses in the city are built in the form 
of hollow squares, with open courts surround- 
ed by colonades which are adorned with plants 
and flowers. 

Besides the Palace, the Cathedral and 
seventy or eighty other churches, there are 
several other public buildings well construct- 
ed with a pure style of architecture. The 
Mineria, or college of engineers, is a splen- 
did edifice. The Acordada, or public prison, 
is a large substantial structure, fitted to con- 
tain about 1300 prisoners. The Theatres are 
of considerable size. The Plaza de Toros, 
for the exhibition of Bull-fights, is a great 
amphitheatre capable of accommodating ten 
or twelve thousand spectators. The great 
Cigar Manufactory belonging to the gov- 
ernment is an immense establishment, which 
supplies the whole legitimate demand of the 
country for cigars. The Museum contains an- 
tique paintings, the armor of Cortez, Aztec 
manuscripts, Images and other antiquities. 



The streets are wide clean and airy, 
crossing each other at right angles, and so 
straight and level that from almost any point 
in the city a person may look through on 
either hand, and see the fertile valley and 
the distant mountains. Out side the city is 
a broad street above a mile in length, and 
bordered on each side by double rows of 
beautiful trees. It is called the Passeo, and 
is the great resort of persons in carriages 
and on horseback, and is so wide that a pro- 
cession of carriages may be passing on each 
side and troops of horsemen between. A 
gentleman states that he thinks he has seen 
as many as a thousand carriages and five 
hundred horsemen on the Passeo at one 
time. Here is a great display of splendid 
carriages and harnesses, and caparisoned 
steeds, with their ridtrs gaily dressed in their 
round-abouts trimmed with lace and gold. 
It is said that one millionaire occasionally 
appears in a saddle that cost five thousand 
dollars. The ladies in their carriages, pass 
leisurely along, blessing the cavaliers with 
their bewitching glances, and sometimes 
gracefully saluting them with their fans. 
The cavaliers curb in their prancing steeds, 
which, when opposite certaiet carriages, 
become somewhat ungovernable and oblige 
their riders to display feats of horsemanship ! 
It is said that friendship and love are thus 
cultivated on the Passeo, sometimes for 
years without a single interview indoors. 

Another place of resort is the Alameda, or 
public walk. This is an extensive common 
or park west of the city, surrounded by a 
carriage road, and intersected by paved 
walks bordered with trees, and. converging to 
the centre, where there is a circular area 
with beautiful jets of water and a statue of 
the goddess of liberty. Here too may be 
seen the beauty and the gaiety of the city. 
Soldiers and generals in uniform, priests in 
their gowns, and gay young men with their 
pretty brunetts, whose dark eyes out flash the 
diamonds that adorn their persons. 

There are also in the city several portales 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



77 



or covered colonades, lined with shops and 
stalls, and forming a favorite evening prom- 
enade long after the Alameda and Passeo 
have ceased to be frequented. The environs 
also on a fine moonlight evening present a 
very lively scene of bustle and gaiety ; hun- 
dreds of canoes of various sizes, mostly with 
awnings, and crowded with native Indians or 
Mestizo?, are seen passing in every direc- 
tion along the lake and canals ; each boat 
with its guitar player at the stern, and some 
of the party singing or dancing. 

The promenades and places of public re- 
sort are frequented the year round, as the in- 
habitants are not, like us, kept in-doors half 
or three fourths of the year by the inclemen- 
cy of the weather. A writer observes that in 
the two years he was there, he never saw any 
frost. The houses have no fire-places, and 
no fuel is used except to cook with. The 
climate it is said is delightful, it rarely being 
'so warm that you need to take your coat off, 
or so cool that you need to button it.' 

The population of the city of Mexico is 
variously stated from 150,000 to 200,000. 
They are are a motley race. Perhaps 70,000 
are of Spanish origin, 40,000 pure-blooded 
Indians, and the remainder of all possible 
shades, from the copper color of the native 
to the light olive shade of the Spaniard. 

We have heard a great deal about the 
wealth of the churches in Mexico. Mr. 
Thompson thus speaks of the subject: 

' The cathedral which occupies one side 
of the great square is 500 feet long by 420 
wide, and is surmounted by two towers orna- 
mented with pilasters and statutes. Like all 
of the other churches in the city it is built in 
the gothic style. The walls, of several feet 
thickness are made of unhewn stone and 
lime. Upon entering it, one is apt to recall 
the wild fictions of the Arabian nights ; it 
seems as if the wealth of empires was col- 
lected there. The clergy of Mexico do not, 
for obvious reasons, desire that their wealth 
should be made known to its full extent ; 
they are not therefore disposed to give very 



full information upon the subject, or to ex- 
hibit the gold and silver vessels, vases, 
precious stones, and other forms of wealth ; 
quite enough however is exhibited to strike 
the beholder with wonder. The first object 
that presents itself on entering the cathedral 
is the altar, near the centre of the building ; 
it is made of highly wrought and highly pol- 
ished silver, and covered with a profusion of 
ornaments of pure gold. On each side of 
this altar runs a balustrade, enclosing a space 
about eight feet wide and eighty or a hun- 
dred feet. long. The balusters are about four 
feet high, and four inches thick in the largest 
part, the hand-rail from six to eight inches 
wide. Upon the top of this hand-rail, at the 
distance of six or eight feet apart, are human 
images beautilully wrought, and about two 
feet high. All of these, the balustrade, hand- 
rail and images, are made of a compound of 
gold, silver and copper — more valuable than 
silver. I was told that an offer had been 
made to take this balustrade, and replace it 
with another of exactly the same size and 
workmanship of pure silver, and to give half 
a million of dollars besides. There is much 
more of the same balustrade in other parts of 
the church ; 1 should think in all of it not 
less than three hundred feet. 

As you walk through the building on 
either side, there are different departments 
all filled from the floor to the ceiling, with 
paintings, statues, vases, huge candlesticks, 
waiters, and a thousand other articles made 
of gold or silver. This too is only the every 
day display of articles of least value ; the 
more costly are stored away in chests and 
closets. What must it be when all these are 
brought out, with the immense quantities of 
precious stones which the church is known 
to possess 1 

And this is only one of the churches of 
the city of Mexico, where there are between 
sixty and eighty others, and some of them 
possessing little less wealth than the cathe- 
dral ; and it must also be remembered that 
all the other large cities, such as Puebla, 



r8 



Guadalajara, Guanaxauto, Valadollid, Za- 
catecas, Durango, San Louis Potosi, have 
each a proportionate number of equally gor- 
geous establishments. 

But the immense wealth which is thus col- 
lected in the churches is not by any means 
all or even the largest portion of the wealth 
of the Mexican church and clergy. They 
own very many of the finest houses in Mexi- 
co and other cities, (the rents of which must 
be enormous) besides valuable real estate all 
over the republic. Almost every person 
leaves a bequest in his will for masses for 
his soul (or those of his friends ;) this consti- 
tutes an encumbrance upon the estate, and 
thus nearly all the estates of the small pro- 
prietors are mortgaged to the church. The 
property held by the church in mortmain is 
estimated at fifty millions.' 

Gilliam, in his 'Travels in Mexico,' 
states that when he was in the cathedral in 
the capital, a man climbed with a ladder upon 
the huge silver chandelier, and walked around 
upon it with the utmost ease and lighted the ta- 
pers. Again he says, ' as the visitor enters 
the cathedral he is overwhelmed by the num- 
ber of the saints and the angels that strike 
his view.' 

Brantz Mayer speaks as follows of some of 
the furniture in the cathedral at Puebla : 

' The great chandelier ' of silver weighs 
ions. The cost of cleansing it merely, a few 
years since, was four thousand dollars. The 
candelabras surrounding the platform before 
the altar are of silver and gold, and so pon- 
derous that a strong man could neither move 
nor lift them. To the right of the altar is a 
figure of the Virgin Mary, near the size of 
life, dressed in the richest embroidered satin, 
with a string ol the largest pearls hanging 
from her neck below her knees. Around her 
brow is clasped a crown of gold inlaid with 
emeralds, and her waist is bound with a zone 
of diamonds, from the centre of which blaze 
numbers of enormous brilliants.' 'In the 
cathedral in Mexico,' he continues, ' is an 
image of the Virgin of Remedios, who enjoys 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 

the exclusive right to three petticoats ; one 
embroidered with pearls, another with eme- 
ralds, and the third with diamonds, the value 
of which, I am credibly informed, is not less 
than three millions of dollars. Around this 
splendid mine of wealth are half naked Indi- 
ans, gaping with surprise, or kneeling to the 
figure of some favorite saint — the misery of 
the worshippers in painful contrast with the 
splendor of the shrine.' 

Thus the clergy having the wealth and be- 
ing the keepers of the consciences of the na- 
tion, are all powerful ; and bold is the Presi- 
dent or the party that dares lay hands or 
what is considered consecrated property 
Gomez Farias, in 1834, proposed to the Mex 
ican Congress to confiscate the churcl 
property ; but a revolution overthrew the ad 
ministration and the measure was prevented 
He estimated the total value of the property 
and possessions of the church at 160 millions 
of dollars. Farias was then Vice Presiden 
under Santa Anna. By a remarkable revo 
lution of circumstances, they too have hel< 
the same offices this year ; and while Sant 
Anna was in the north attending to Genera 
Taylor, Farias, then actingPresident, wishing 
to obtain some of the church funds to prose 
cute the war, became so odious to the priests 
party, that a civil war broke out in the capi 
tal. Santa Anna was obliged to hasten bad 
from Buena Vista to quell the tumult, am 
Farias was ruled out of office. 

Such is the fate of every man and ever; 
movement that encounters the power of th 
priesthood. At the commencement of th 
revolution in 1810, the priests were oppose 
to it; the attempt failed. At the end c 
another ten years, it became the interest o 
the clergy to separate from Spain ; the revo 
lution was completed. Iturbide was pre 
claimed emperor, and in 1821 Mexico becam 
an independent nation. ' 

Such is the power of the Catholic clerg 
in Mexico — a power incompatible with fre 
institutions. And this is the religion est at 
lished by law to the exclusion of all other: 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



79 



None but catholics,' says Mr. Thompson, 
are allowed to be buried in the regular 
urial grounds, and if buried anywhere else, 
lere is no security that the sacredness of 
le grave of one regarded as an infidel will 
ot be molested. To the disgrace of Mexi- 
3, the rights of sepulture have to be secured 
f treaty, to foreigners who are not catho- 
cs. Two of the Texian prisoners died at 
ie Puente National ; one of them to protect 
s corpse from violation, professed the Cath- 
ie faith ; the other, a very gallant and fine 
>ung man, Lieutenant Sevey, refused to do 
>. It was with great difficulty that his friends 
>uld obtain the privilege of burial for him, 
hich was at last accomplished by a bribe of 
►0 dollars to the priest.' 
Along with the christian religion the In- 
lisition was introduced into Mexico by the 
)aniards; a fit successor and substitute, it 
mid seem, for the bloody system of human 
crifices by the Aztecs. There was, how- 
er, as Mr. Prescott remarks, this differ- 
ce, that to be devoted to the gods in sacri- 
e was ennobling to the victim and opened 
sure passage to paradise, whereas the tor- 
re of the stake was more severe than the 
r>rificing knife, and the inquisition branded 
victims with infamy in this world, and 
nsigned them to everlasting perdition in 
3 next. The inquisition continued till 1822, 
len, to his honor be it spoken, it was abol- 
ied by Iturbide. 

The better educated of the Mexicans are 
.course acquainted with the history and af- 
rs of other countries, and understand the 
ative position occupied by their own and 
ier nations. But probably nine-tenths 
the people, shut up within their unhealthy 
ists and the uncivilized regions of the 
i-th and south, and having little or no light 
m the press or general education, are near- 
ignorant of the rest of the world, and re- 
|.d it as once did the Chinese ; who con- 
!;5red as outlandish all that part of the earth 
side of the celestial empire ; the English 
re a clan of islanders, so law in the scale 



of barbarism as to be governed by a woman 
one Victoria. 

Mr. Gilliam says : { The egotism and love 
of country of the Mexicans is unparalleled. 
While he thinks his native land the best on 
the globe, his opinion of himself does not de- 
generate ; for he believes that his people are 
the most learned and pious in the world ; 
hence his prejudice against foreigners and 
opposition to improvement. When a foreign- 
er has embraced all his sentiments and max- 
ims, and in everything fashioned himself af- 
ter his ways, he will then be tolerated, as all 
proselytes are, by the opinionated and bigot- 
ed, as having been redeemed from ignorance 
and superstition.' 

In speaking of the Catholic church in 
Mexico, it must be borne in mind that it is 
there in the same backward state as the soci- 
ety in general, and partakes of the darkness 
in which it has helped to enshroud the peo- 
ple. Spain herself has set Mexico an exam- 
ple in scattering the useless hordes of church 
wealth ; and the liberal policy of the present 
Pope even, has left the Mexican church alto- 
gether in the rear; and many of the remarks 
made respecting the catholic establishment 
in Mexico, by no means apply to the more 
enlightened and liberal branch of that church 
in the United States. 

To show what relics of paganism still re- 
main in the Mexican church, the following 
incident is related by a lady writer in Mexi- 
co, in 1S40. She says : 'All the Mexicans, 
at present, men and women, are engaged in 
what is called the desagravios, or a public 
penance performed at this season in the 
churches, during thirty-five days.' By special 
favor she and a few friends were admitted 
into the gallery as spectators. ■ The women 
attended church in the morning. The se- 
verest of their penance consisted in kneeling, 
with their arms extended in the form of a 
cross, uttering groans; a most painful pos- 
ture for any length of time.' In the evening 
the men assembled. ' The penitence of the 
men,' remarks the writer, ' is most severe, 



80 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



their sins no doubt being proportionally 
greater than those of the women.' The priest 
made a spirited exhortation, and then said, 
" My brothers, when Christ was fastened to 
the pillar by the Jews, he was scourged.' 
Suddenly the church was darkened, and ' the 
sound of hundreds of scourges was heard de- 
scending upon the bare flesh. Before the 
end of ten minutes the sound became splash- 
ing from the blood that was flowing. Sup- 
pressed groans were heard. This horrible 
flagellation continued half an hour ; when 
the monk rang a little bell and called upon 
them to desist, assuring them that Heaven 
would be satisfied. But in their zeal the 
sound of the lashing became the louder, the 
floor was covered with blood ; but at length 
the sound grew fainter and fainter, and final- 
ly died away, as if from mere exhaustion !' 

Possibly some of the chivalrous young 
men of our country have embarked in the 
conquest of Mexico, allured, as were the cav- 
aliers under Cortez, by the golden treasures 
of this sunny land ; if so they would do well 
not to put themselves under General Scott, 
for better would it be for them to fall into 
the hands of the Mexicans, than with their 
pockets full of plunder, to encounter the 
stern old general. Heaven forbid that our 
countrjmen should imitate the example of 
the Spaniards of old, in plundering this fair 
land. But if the pressure of the present war 
shall oblige the Mexican government and 
priesthood to open these above-ground mines, 
and to coin and throw into the circulating 
medium of the world, these hoarded heaps of 
precious metals and barbaric ornaments, 
which have been for three centuries accumu- 
lating, and which are as useless as they are 
inconsistent with His worship, who was born 
in a manger, and had not where to lay his 
head; -if necessity should thus curtail the 
wealth of the church and consequently its 
political power, and it should be obliged to 
grant a little of that toleration which our con- 
stitution guarantees equally to all — if, I say, 
these shall be the effects, the present war, 



with its many calamities will not be withe 
its beneficial results. 



Population. 

The population of Mexico is estimated 
about 8 millions. The classes of the po] 
lation are singularly varied, and are char 
terised by more striking distinctions tr 
those of any other country, First may 
named the Europeans, as they were sty] 
natives of Spain. This class never numb 
ed more than 80,000 in the palmy days of 
Viceroys, yet this small fraction governed i 
country for the three hundred years of 
colonial existence. Since the independei 
of the country the other classes have tal 
their revenge on those once so proud of th 
European blood, and they now have as lit 
influence in political matters as formerly t 
Spanish Americans. 

The second class, are the Creoles, or Am 
icans as they prefer to call themselves ; tl 
are of the pure Spanish blood, but born 
Mexico. They are the wealthiest and m 
powerful class of the population ; and num 
about a million and a half. They are 
ruling class and govern the other 6 1-2 r 
lions. 

Third, the Indians or native Mexicc 
constituting the great mass of the rural 
borers, and supposed to amount to abou 
millions or one half of the entire popi: 
tion. 

Fourth, the Meztizos, or half breeds 
Spanish and Indians — which Mme. Calde 
says is the handsomest race in Mexico. Th 
together with the other #nixtures of Indi 
and Spanish, and a few Negroes, are s 
posed to amount to about two millions, 
be white was formerly in Mexico a badge 
rank, and almost a title of nobility. Wl 
a Mexican considered himself slighted 
another, he would ask, ' Am I not as wl 
as yourself?' And when the Spanish g 
ernment wished to honor one of mixed bl 
for distinguished services, they passed a 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



81 



ee that ' he should be considered white.' 
By the constitution of Mexico all classes* 
ithout distinction of race or color enjoy the 
tine political rights. This is the letter of 
ie law, but there is the same propensity 
ere as elsewhere to adopt 

' That good old rule, that simple plan, 
That they should take who have the power. 
And they should keep who can.' 

rhe ancient Mexicans, in point of civiliza- 
*n were far in advance of all the other In- 
an nations in the new world ; but still they 
jre only the better sort of barbarians. — 
uree centuries of oppression have effaced 
3 nobler traits of their character. In the 
iguage of Prescott, ' The American Indi- 
! has something peculiarly sensitive in his 
iture He shrinks instinctively from the 
de touch of a foreign hand. Even when 
is foreign influence comes in the form of 
vilization, he seems to shrink and pine 
! T ay beneath it. It has been so with the 
2xicans. Under the Spanish dominion 
eir numbers have silently melted away. — 
jueir energies are broken. They no longer 
ad their mountain plains with the con- 
lious independence of their ancestors. In 
:ir faltering step, and meek and melanchol- 
p aspect we read the sad characters of the 
bquered race. * * * * 

iteir civilization was of the hardy charac- 
i which belongs to the wilderness. The 
•ce virtues of the Aztec were all his own. 
ey refused to submit to European culture 
.o be engrafted on a foreign stock. His 
ward form, his complexion, his lineaments 
! substantially the same. But the moral 
rfiracteristics of the nation, all that consti- 
e its individuality as a race, are effaced 
tf ever.' 
ndolence, blind submission to their supe- 
rs, and gross superstition are the charac- 
stics of the present Indian race in Mexi- 
' The form of their religion,' says Mc- 
lloch, * is changed, and that is nearly all ; 
y take the same childish delight in the 



idle ceremonies and processions of the Cath- 
olic church as they once took in the fantas- 
tic mummeries of their aboriginal idolatry. 
They are scattered over the country as labor- 
ers, distributed into villages, or else live in 
the towns as artizans, workmen or beggars. 
In a few instances they have accumulated 
property, and acquired respectability ; but in 
general they are indolent, ignorant and pov- 
erty-stricken.' 

' Mexico,' says Chevalier, ' is a country so 
rich that famine scarcely visits even the most 
indolent. In the tierras calientes (hot regions 
on the coast,) and even on the plateau, the 
natives are content to dwell with their fami- 
lies in a cabin of bamboo trellis-work, so 
slight as scarcely to hide them from the stran- 
ger's gaze, and to sleep either on mere mats, 
or at best on beds made of leaves and brush 
wood. Their dress consists simply of a pair 
of drawers, and sarape, which serves for a 
cloak by day and a counterpane by night. — 
Each has his horse, a sorry beast, which 
feeds at large in the open country ; and a 
whole family of Indians are supplied with 
food by bananas, chili, and maize, raised al- 
most without labor in a small enclosure round 
the hut. Labor indeed occupies but a small 
portion of the Indian's time, which is chiefly 
spent in drinking pulque, sleep, or singing to 
his wretched mandolin hymns in honor of 
Our Mother of Guadaloupe, and occasional- 
ly carrying votive chaplets to deck the altar 
of his village church. Thus he passes his 
life in dreamy indifference and utterly careless 
of the ever-reviving commotions by which 
the peace of Mexico is disturbed. The as- 
sassinations and robberies which the almost 
impotent government allows to be committed 
with impunity on the public roads, and even 
lh sight of the capital, are to him only mat* 
ters for conversation, the theme of a tale or 
ditty. And why should he trouble himself 
about it 1 Having nothing in the world but 
the dress in which he stands, his lance, spurs 
and guitar, he has no fear of thieves ; nor 
w"\ll the poniard of the assassin touch him, 



89 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



if he himself, drunk with pulque or chinga- 
rito, do not first use his own.' 

After becoming acquainted with the char- 
acter ot'the heterogenous races that makeup 
the Mexican population, we shall not be so 
much surprised at the state of misrule and 
anarchy that prevail there. What sort of a 
democracy could be expected from them. — 
The government is called republican, but it 
is merely a government of priests and mili- 
tary chieftains. But neither gunpowder nor 
purgatory can restrain the ever-renewing 
commotions of an ignorant and degraded pop- 
ulation. There can be no stronger proof of 
the incurable anarchy of the country than 
the tact that while their land was invaded by 
hostile armies, they were shooting each other 
in their own capital. For the past forty 
vears Mexico has been but a school and 
theatre of war. Generals are as plenty as 
corporals and captains of militia in New 
England, and to be a soldier is only to be in 
fashion. And if the Generals do not find 
employment for them by getting up a revolu- 
tion, they endeavor to relieve the tedium of 
the short intervals of peace by turning rob 
bers or by doing anything else, excepting 
icork. Three or four years since, Colonel 
Yanes, one of Sana Anna's favorite officers, 
was executed for robbing and murdering the 
Swiss consul, in his own house in the city of 
Mexico. The great road from Vera Cruz to 
Mexico, in its mountainous parts, even in 
times of peace, is infested by banditti ; and 
to have thesta^e coach stopped and the passen- 
gers plundered is almost a matter of course, 
unless the travellers go well armed or employ 
an escort of soldiers. Mr. dishing, on his 
return from China, across Mexico, was rob- 
bed, it is said, of money and valuable manu- 
script notes on the Chinese Empire. It is to 
be hoped that the gallant General will be able 
to recover the papers lost by the accomplish- 
ed scholar,. and that he will obtain due satis- 
faction for the insult offered to the peaceful 
minister from the celestial regions. 



co we see how incapable they are of mail 
taining a contest with a country like on 
own. Our number of inhabitants at th 
present time cannot be less than 20 millions 
of the most hardy and enterprising race o 
the globe. Mexico has S millions, ot thes- 
less than two millions are whites, about tw 
are the mixed races, and the remaining feu 
millions, or one half of the whole, are Indi 
ans. 

The principal officers of the army are 
nearly all, of the Spanish portion of the in 
habitants ; occasionally a Mestizo or Mula 
to, and it is said that one of the General 
at Cerro Gordo was a Mulatto. The soldier 
are made up of whites, mixed, and Indians 
' The soldiers of the Mexican army,' say 
Mr. Thompson, 'are generally collected b 
sending out recruiting detachments into th 
mountains, where they hunt the Indians ii 
their dens and caverns, and bring them ii 
chains to Mexico; there is scarcely a da- 
that droves of these miserable and more thai 
half naked wretches are not seen thus chaine« 
together and marching through the streets U 
the barracks, where they are scoured am 
dressed in a uniform made of linen cloth o 
of serge, and are occasionally drilled — whic" 
drilling consists mainly in teaching them t> 
march in column through the street. Ther 
is not one in ten of these soldiers who ha 
ever seen a gun, nor one in a hundred win 
has ever fired one before he was brought in 
to the barracks. 

' I do not,' he continues, ' think that th 
Mexicans are deficient in courage ; or i 
might be more properly said that they are in 
different to danger or the preservation of ; 
life which is really so worthless to most o 
them.' 

Mr. Thompson's statements, in regard ti 
the inferiority of the Mexicans to the Amer 
icans in battle, are very strong but from ; 
residence of two years among them, and him 
self enjoying the title of General as well a 
honorable, he ought to be good authority.— 



From a notice 



of the population of Mexi- He says: 'They are generally diminutive u 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



83 



stature and deficient in physical strength, bc- 
intg unaccustomed to labor or exercise of any 
sort. The Mexican army, and more partic- 
ularly their cavalry, may do very well to fight 
each other, hut in any conflict with our 
own or European troops, it would not be a 
battle but a massacre. The American 
corpse, from the superior size of their hors- 
es, would cover twice as much ground, and 
the obstruction offered by the Mexicans, on 
their srqall and scrawny ponies would scarce- 
ly cause their horses to stumble in riding 
over them. To say nothing of the greater 
inequality of the men themselves, five to one 
it lea^t in individual combat, and more than 
;wice that in battle. Tthe infantry would be 
'o'lfnd even more impotent. Their arms, too, 
le remarks, are generally worthless English 
nuskets which have been condemned and 
hrown aside, and are purchased for almost 
lothing and sold to the Mexican government, 
rheir powder too, is equally bad ; in the last 
>attle between Santa Anna and Bustamente 
in 1842) which lasted the whole day, not 
me cannon ball in a thousand reached the 
inemy — they fell about half way between the 
>pposing armies.' 

This comparison between the Mexican and 
American troops was written before the com- 
nencement of the present war, and the re- 
ults of the different conflicts have not gone 
ar towards disproving the correctness of the 
tatements. 

When we take into view this difference be- 
ween Mexican and American forces, the 
Mexicans have shown themselves brave and 
atriotic. Palo Alto and Resaca de Palma, 
Monterey, Buena Vista, and Cerro Gordo, 
ear testimony that, if they could not conquer, 
hey could die for their country. The Castle 
f St. Juan yielded to a necessity that ap- 
ealed more strongly to them, than a bom- 
ardment of its walls would have done. 

The Castle of St. Juan de Ulua, was com- 
aenced by the Spaniards in 1682, sixty-four 
ears after their arrival on the shores of 



one third of a mile from the city of Vera 
Cruz ; it is built of a red coral or madrepore, 
a stone obtained from the sea and islands 
near. Its walls are four or five yards thick, 
and the side fronting the city is fifty-four rods 
long, and the north side about two thirds 
that length. Its form is that of a polygon, on 
its north angle is a tower, in which is a bril- 
liant revolving light, seventy-nine feet above 
the water. The castle is said to have cost forty 
millions of dollars. It seems hardly possible, 
but it is an immense and massive structure ; 
its foundations are laid deep in the water, and 
for nearly three centuries its black looking 
walls have resisted all the force of the stormy 

waves that beat continually against them. 

Tliis celebrated fortress whose batteries moun- 
ted at one time 177 guns of various calibre, 
has now been taken for the fourth time. 

It was taken the first time by surprise, in 
I5C8, by a small fleet commanded by the 
pirate Juan Aquinas Acle. The second 
capture was also by a bucanier named 
Lurencello, on the night of the 17th of May, 
1 603, The third time, it was bombarded 
and taken by the French, as has been stated, 
near the close of 1838 ; the magazine blew 
up or they would not have succeeded so 
readily. But now the star spangled banner 
of the American Union floats on its battle- 
ments. 

Vera Cruz is a walled town, well built, and 
its towers, cupolas and battlements give it an 
imposing appearance from the sea. It has a 
climate in the warm season fatal to strangers. 
When they land there and post directly to 
Jalapa, they often carry the infection of the 
vomito with them, and die in a day. The 
badness of the water, the surrounding plains 
and hills of burning sand, contribute to ren- 
der it the focus of the yellow fever. Many 
of our brave young men who compose the 
garrisons of the town and castle, will leave 
their bones in the land of the stranger. ' 

According to accounts the landing of Gen- 
eral Scott's army at Vera Cruz presented 



Mexico. It occupies a small island about | one of the grandest specimens of the pomp 



84 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



and circumstance of war ever beheld on the 
western continent. The army numbered 
12,000 men. These with their cannon, bag- 
wage wagons, and horses, covered an exten- 
sive area. The fleet had commenced its fire 
upon the castle and town to divert the atten- 
tion of the garrisons and partially protect the 
landing of the army. The decks of the for- 
eign vessels in the port were crowded with 
spectators eager to witness the magnificent 
panorama of war. Only a part of the army 
could be landed at a time with the seventy 
boats which were obliged to be used on ac- 
count of the sloping sandy beach. 

The water for a mile was covered with 
surf boats rowed by Commodore Perry's stur- 
dy seamen, each boat laden with cavalry and 
cannon and men in battle trim, with their 
hands on their weapons, expecting the ene- 
my would meet them before they reached the 
shore. The eager troops leaped on the 
beach while the boats had hardly touched 
ground, and some even dashed through the 
water breast deep ; all the while the old castle 
was belching forth its fire and smoke, and 
the black war ships wrapped in sulphurous 
clouds were answering back its thunder. 

When the first division of the army had 
gained the Mexican soil, their comrades on the 
fleet swung their plumed caps and gave three 
tremendous cheers, so long and loud as to 
swell above the roar of artillery and send their 
echoes far over and sea and shore. 

And when the army had all landed, what 
an imposing array — baggage trains and hor- 
ses, brazen cannon, and black iron mortars, 
and awful Paxians ; artillery, infantry, cav- 



alry, as far as the eye could reach — a forest 
of bristling bayonets,and waving plumes, and 
floating banners. 

In the reports from the scenes of the war 
we generally hear but one side of the story, 
and the Mexicans, defeated in every contest, 
we may look upon as cowardly and contempt- 
ible. But considering their repeated rever- 
ses they show a persevering determination 
worthy of admiration. The city was not sur- 
rendered till their wives and children had 
fallen around them and a third of the town 
had been battered to the ground. The castle 
was given up because its surrender was re- 
quired in connection with that of the city, 
although hardly a ball had been thrown upon 
the impregnable fortress. 

Many were the deeds of valor performed 
by the Mexicans during the bombardment; 
and on the surrender several officers were 
released without parole, or their pledge not 
to take up arms again. While the batteries 
were playing with awful activity, and throw- 
ing balls and shells at the rate of a dozen a 
minute upon the devoted city, one of the 
balls cut down a flag ; instantly a young 
Mexican officer mounted the wall, and held 
the banner floating in the air till a new flag- 
staff could be procured. The daring feat 
elicited a shout of admiration from the Amer- 
ican lines. He was one of the officers re- 
leased without parole ; and improving the 
privilege thus granted, he was afterwards 
among the foremost in the Mexicans ranks at 
Cerro Gordo, where he bravely fell as the 
hero falls, fighting for his kindred and coun- 
try. 



CHAPTER VII. 

AGRICULTURE— AMUSEMENTS— MANNERS— FEMALE EDUCATION AND 

BEAUTY. 

Haciendas or Estates — Their Vast Extent. Orange Groves. Montezuma's Cypress. 

Farming Tools. A Mexican Cart. Mules instead of Rail-roads. Amusements. Bull- 
fights, a Description of. Branding of Bulls, a Great Entertainment. Great Gambling 
Festival of Saint Auguslin. The Cock-pit, and the Spectators. Influence of Gaming 
on the Mexicans. Anecdote, of a Regiment of Cocks. Mexican Character. Their 
Good Qualities. Etic/uctte. Cordiality of Manners. Visiting. Costumes. Fans. 
Leperos, or Fag-end of the City. Evangelist as , or City Letter-writers. Style of Fe- 
male Beauty. Mexican versus English and French Ladies. Amiability, Irresistible 
Charms. Female Education. A Mexican Editor's Opinion of his Country-women. — 
Politeness of the Mexicans. Everything ' at your Disposal' Mistake of a Gentlemen 
who thought a Lady * Truly his.' Anecdote of a Mexican who lost a Harness by placing 
it ' at the Service' of a Frenchman. Specimen of Doctors' Politeness, a Lesson to the 
Profession ! 



The Haciendas are the mansions and es- 
tates of the wealthy ; and many of them are 
of vast extent. In the north part of the 
stace of New Leon is the estate of Jaral, 
containing 50,000 square miles. His live 
stock amounts to 300,000 head. Thirty 
thousand sheep are sent annually to the 
market in the city of Mexico, and as many 
Croats are killed on this princely domain. 
The Indians live on these great estates, in 

ittle villages, or scattered huts, nominally 

Dwning their patches of land, and hired as 

aborers by the proprietors. 
Madame Calderon, in her ' Life in Mex- 

co,' speaking of a hacienda, says it is 90 

niles long and 51 wide. 
Another one, belonging to the Duke 

!e Morteleone, produced 750,000 pounds of 



sugar annually. It had on it a coffee planta- 
tion also, with a great mill for cleaning the 
beans from the chaff. There were 400 men 
employed exclusive of boys ; one hundred 
horses and a large number of mules. The 
laborers were Indians and were paid from 
two and a half to six and a half rials (or 31 
to 75 cents) a day. 

'* The property is very extensive,' she 
continues, ' containing the fields of sugar 
cane, plains for cattle, and the pretty planta- 
tions of coffee, so green and spring-like, this 
one containing upwards of 50,000 young 
plants, all fresh and vigorous, besides a great 
deal of uncultivated ground, abandoned to 
the deer and hares and quails, of which 
there was a great abundance.' In reference 
to the house on this plantation, she says ; 



86 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



' As for the interior of these haciendas, 
they are all pretty much alike so far as we 
have seen; a great stone building, solid 
enough to stand a siege, with floors of painted 
brick, large deal tables, wooden benches, 
painted chairs, whitewashed walls, and num- 
berless empty rooms.' Indeed it would be 
of no use to have them furnished in a costly 
manner as they are liable at any time to be 
converted into barracks. 

In describing a visit to another hacienda, 
the same pleasant writer remarks in a letter 
addressed to Boston, February lb41 : ' In 
the evening we drove to the orange grove, 
where three thousand lofty trees are ranged 
in avenues, literally bending under the weight 
of their golden fruit and snowy blossom. 
I never saw a more beautiful sight. Each 
tree is perfect and lofty as a forest tree. The 
ground under their broad shadows is strewed 
with thousand of oranges, dropping in their 
ripeness, and covered with the white tragrant 
blossoms. Here too were orchards of loaded 
fruit trees; and melons, tamarind, citron, 
custard apple, and almost an infinity of the 
brightest and most beautiful flowers. What 
prodigality of Nature! The air was soft 
and balmy, and actually heavy with fra- 
grance. All round ran streams of the most 
delicious clear water, trickling with sweet 
music, and now and then a little cardinal 
like a bright red ruby would perch on the 
trees. We pulled boquets of orange blos- 
soms, jessamine, lilies, double red roses and 
lemon leaves, and wished we could have 
transported them to you, to those lands, 
where winter is now wrapping the world in 
his white winding-sheet.' 

Among the forest trees ol Mexico is the 
beautiful and majestic cypress. Humboldt 
speaks of one which measured seventy-three 
feet in circumference— a vegetable Methu- 
selah. There are several enormous trees of 
this kind at Chapultepec, three miles west of 
the capital ; one known by the name of 'Mon- 
tezuma's Cypress,' is forty-one feet in circum- 
ference, a tall stately tree, venerable with 



vines and moss, and old when Montezuma 
was a boy and played beneath its branches. 
Notwithstanding the advantages Mexico 
possesses in point of climate and soil, much 
of the land is unoccupied, and tracts, once 
fertile, have become sterile for want of culti- 
vation. Their agricultural implements are of 
the rudest description. The plough such as 
was used two thousand years ago, simply a 
wedge of wood. Such a thing as a rail-road, 
is not known, and doubtless an army of 
modern Mexicans would be panic stricken 
and routed by a locomotive, as were the 
natives by the cavalry of Cortez. 

The following description of the farming 
tools of the Mexicans is by a correspondent 
of the St. Louis Republican, in 1846. Per- 
haps some allowance should be made for the 
fact that the primitive machines which he 
describes, were found in the Northern pro 
vinces where the people have not advanced 
quite so far in their knowledge of the 
' useful metals' as in the more populous and 
central portions of the Republic : 

'The farming tools of the Mexicans are o 
the rudest possible description. It has beei 
well said, that they seem to be opposed t 
change of every kind, except in their gov 
ernors and government. The same utensil 
which were used by Cortez, at the conquest 
in the sixteenth century, are used at this da, 
in Mexico. 

Riding, on the 10th of December, up th 
valley in which Parras is situated, I came t 
a field where they- were sowing wheat. Th 
sower was sowing the wheat broadcast on th' 
unploughed ground. Twenty-three plougl; 
followed each other, on the same land 
ploughing the wheat in. A contrivance fc' 
a harrow, levelled the ground after W 
ploughs. Each plough was drawn by tw 
oxen. The ploughs were of the same p| 
tern used by the Romans two thousair 
years since. They were made of the fork / 
a small tree, one prong of which answer 
for the beam, and was cut long enough 
fasten the oxen to; the other prong was c 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



87 



ofi about four feet long, and sharpened at the 
end, and a single stick fastened into the 
fork and projecting back, made the handle. 
This was the plough — lock, stock and barrel. 
When a forked tree cannot be found, the 
short stick is morticed, into the long one. 
The short prong was the coulter — the long 
one the beam. This was fastened by a raw- 
hide thong to the ox-yoke, which in turn, 
was fastened in front of, and to the horns of 
the oxen, by another raw-hide thong. The 
handle was held by a peon, who was armed 
in the other hand with a long pole, with a 
sharp goad in the end of it, which he unspar- 
ingly plunged into the oxen to quicken their 
speed, or to change their direction. 

Some of the better ploughs have the coulter 
shod with a piece of iron, resembling a bull 
tongue, eight inches long, and tapering from 
thence to two inches at the point. This is 
the greatest improvement made upon the 
plough. 

The ground is never thoroughly broken 
up, and it is only scratched in furrows a few 
inches deep. Efforts have been made to in- 
troduce better ploughs and some have been 
brought from the United States. But the 
Mexicans did not like to use them. Th'ey 
were soon broken or thrown aside as useless, 
because no one would plough with them. 

The harrow was as simple a contrivance 
as the plough, and consisted of a single stick 
pf square timber, the size of a joist, fastened 
in two places with a raw-hide rope to keep 
it square to the front, and drawn by a yoke 
pf oxen to level the ground. 
• The mctate, or stone corn-mill, used for 
>reparing tortillas, is the same article that 
,vas used by the Indians at the first conquest 
>f Mexico. 

Their hoes are clumsy, rough machines, 
lecidedly worse than the meanest hoe in 
)ld Virginia — and that is about as bad a 
haracter as I know how to give them. 

Their axes are long and clumsy, with 
lades about three inches wide, and resemble 
^e upper part of a pick-axe or grubbing-hoe. 



It looks remarkable that they should ever be 
able to peck a tree down with one. The 
great superiority of the American axe is so 
evident, that some few venturesome persons 
have commenced the use of them. 

A Mexican cart is the most unique of all 
their inventions. It has not a piece of iron 
in or about it. It is constructed entirely of 
wood and raw hide. The axletree is a rough- 
hewed log, rounded at the ends. The 
wheels are made of knotty live oak, two feet 
and a half through the hub, and trimmed 
down to seven inches in the tread. Two 
slabs of the same width are pinned on to the 
centre piece, to give rotundity to the wheel. 
A heavy tongue is morticed into the axle, 
and has a wooden pin inserted through the 
upper end, by which to fasten it to the yoke. 
The body is made of wooden poles, inserted 
into round saplings eight feet long. This 
is used for hauling wood, &c. — When they 
wish to haul corn, cornstalks are placed 
across the wooden poles, and lashed tightly 
to them w'th strips of raw hide. When 
wheat or shelled corn is to be carried, they 
line the inside of the stalk bed with matting 
made of the palmilla, which resembles the* 
material of which gunny bags are made. 

The ox yoke is a piece of timber five 
inches wide and three inches thick, slightly 
indented near each end. This is tied in front 
and across the horns, with a piece of rough 
raw hide. Another piece fastens the yoke 
tightly to the tongue of the cart. A sec- 
ond yoke of cattle is usually fastened to the 
cart. A strong rope of raw hide, of suffi- 
cient length, fastens their yoke to the tongue 
of the cart. 

The driver moves along by the side of the 
cart, sometimes on foot and sometimes riding 
an ugly, ill-natured looking mustang, with a 
long ox-goad in his hand. He uses this very 
freely, and when he wishes to * file left,' he 
pops his goad into the off ox, who screws his 
tail and runs around his fellow, and changes 
the direction of the cart. They move more 
briskly than American oxen. This is no won- 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



der,for they are all taught to ' walk Spanish.' 
Thev haul very large loads in these carts, 
and travel as fast as horse teams usually do 
on a journey. A Mexican frequently carries 
his wife and children in these carts. He 
then puts his team into a run, sets up a shrill 
whistle, and moves off with the chorus pro- 
duced by the outlandish schreeching of his 
Mexican cart.' 

The internal commerce and the transpor- 
tation from the sea-ports to the capital are 
carried on chiefly upon the backs of mules, 
and even the water in the city of Mexico, in- 
stead of being distributed by pipes as it easi- 
ly might be, is brought into the suburbs by 
aqueducts, and then peddled, through, the 
streets in jugs and jars by Indians. 

It is to be hoped that the plough-share and 
pruning hook will follow in the wake of the 
sword and spear, and that having given them 
lessons in war, the way will be open to in- 
struct them in the arts of peace. Whether 
the present war be necessary or unnecessary, 
just or unjust, Providence will doubtless bring 
good out of it. The greatest improvement 
China has experienced for ages was effected 
by British cannon. So in case of Mexico; 
the tempest of fire, the glare of deadly mis- 
sels will sooner or later be succeeded by the 
milder light of knowledge and civilization, by 
a more assured tranquility, by a more toler- 
ant and purer religion. 

In regard to the character, social habits 
and amusements of Mexicans, I shall present 
the authority of those who have had the ad- 
vantage of residing among them. As the 
books on the subject are somewhat bulky and 
consequently not in very general circulation ; 
and one of the most interesting of them, 
« Life in Mexico,' in two volumes, is nearly 
'out of print, I cannot do better than to pre- 
sent the reader with some of the most inter- 
esting paragraphs of these works. There is a 
life and freshness in sketches drawn from per- 
sonal observation which cannot be imparted 
by one who speaks only from the information 



furnished by others. Particularly is this true 
in regard to the ladies and their accomplish- 
ments, where the writer should wield his pen 
while under the inspiration of their charms 

The Bull-fights are a very popular and fash- 
ionable entertainment in Mexico, as in Spain 
from whence they were introduced. The fol- 
lowing graphic description of one of these 
exhibitions is from the pen of the pleasan 
authoress of ' Life in Mexico.' 

'Fancy to yourself an immense amphithea 
tre, capable of accommodating 12,000 per- 
sons, the whole crowded almost to suffoca 
.tion, the boxes filled with ladies in full dress 
and the seats below by gaily attired and mos 
enthusiastic spectators — two military band, 
of music playing beautiful airs — an extraor 
dinary variety of brilliant costumes, all light 
ed up by the eternally deep blue sky, ladie 
and peasants and officers in full uniform, am 
you may conceive that it must have been al 
together a varied and curious spectacle. 

About half past six, a flourish of trumpet 
announced the President, who came in uni 
form with his staff, and took his seat am ids 
the sound of martial music. Shortly th 
horsemen and footmen made their entry, sa 
luting all round the arena, and were receive 
with loud cheering. 

The dress of the chief horseman of blu 
and silver was very superb and cost $500.- 
The signal was given — the gates were throw 
open, and a bull sprang into the arena. Th 
footmen shook their colored scarfs at him 
the horsemen poked at him with their lai; 
ces. He rushed at the first and tossd up th 
scarfs which they threw at him, while the 
sprang over the arena ; he then galloped afte 
the others, striking the horses, so that alon, 
with their riders they occasionally rolled if 
the dust ; both however almost instantly re 
covered their equilibrium, in which there r 
no time to be lost. Then the footmen woul 
throw fire-works, crackers adorned wit 
streaming ribbons which stuck on his horndt 
and as he tossed his head, enveloped him i 
a blaze of fire. Occasionally the horsema 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



89 



would catch hold of the bull's tail, and pass- 
ing it under his own right leg, wheel the 
hurse round, furce the hull to gallop back- 
wards and throw him on his face. 

Maddened with pain, streaming with 
blood, stuck full of darts and covered with 
fireworks, the unfortunate beast went gallop- 
ing round and round, plunging blindly at 
man and horse, and frequently trying to leap 
the barrier, but driven back by the waving 
liats and shouting of the crowd. At last as 
le stood at bay, and nearly exhausted the 
ibotman ran up and gave him the mortal 
jlow, considered a peculiar proof of skill. 
Fhe bull stopped as if he felt that his hour 
,vere come, staggered, made a few plunges at 
lotbing, and fell. A finishing stroke and 
he bull expired. 

The trumpets sounded, the music played. 
Four horses galloped in tied to a yoke to 
vhich the bull was fastened, and swiftly drag- 
red out of the arena. This last part had a 
ine effect, reminding one of a Roman sac- 
ifice. In a similar manner, eight bulls were 
lone to death. The scene is altogether fine, 
he address amusing, but the wounding and 
ormenting of the bull is sickening, and as 
lere the tips of his horns are blunted, one 
las more sympathy with him than with his 
uman adversaries. It cannot be good to 
iccustom a people to such bloody sights. — 
fet let me confess, that though at first I cov- 
red my face and could not look, little by lit- 
,e 1 grew so much interested in the scene, 
lat I could not take my eyes off of it, and I 

an easily understand the pleasure, taken in 
„iese barbarous diversions by those accus- 

jmed to them from childhood.' 

The marking of bulls is another entertain- 
lent of the Mexicans. 
'After early mass,' says the same .writer, 

we set off for Santiago, where we intend to 
oend a week, to be present at the Heraderos 

-the marking of the bulls with' a hot iron 
. ith the initial of the proprietor's name ; 

amping them with the badge of slavery — 

hich is said to be an extraordinary scene ; to 



which all rancheros and Indians look for- 
ward with the greatest delight. 

The next morning we went early to the 
plaza de toros. The day was fresh and ex- 
hilarating. All the country people from sev- 
eral leagues round were assembled, and the 
trees up to their very topmost branches pre- 
sented a collection of bronze faces and black 
eyes, belonging to the Indians, who had 
taken their places there as comfortably as 
spectators in a ©ne-shilling gallery. A plat- 
form opposite ours, was filled with the wives 
and daughters of agents and small farmers, 
little rancheros, with short white gowns and 
rehosos. There was a very tolerable band ot 
music, perched upon a natural orchestra. 
Bernado and his men were walking and riding 
about, and preparing for action. Nothing 
could be more picturesque than the whole 
scene. 

Seven hundred bulls were driven in from 
the plains, bellowing loudly, so that the air 
was filled with their fierce music. The uni- 
versal love which the Mexicans have for those 
sports, amounts to a passion. All their mon- 
ey is reserved to buy new dresses for this oc- 
casion, silver rolls or gold linings for their 
hats, or new deerskin pantaloons and em- 
broidered jackets with silver buttons. The 
accidents that happen are innumerable, but 
nothing damps their ardor. It beats fox hunt- 
ing. The most striking part of the scene is 
the extraordinary facility which these men 
show in throwing the laso. The bulls being 
all driven into an enclosure — one after anoth- 
er, and sometimes two or three at a time were 
chosen from amongst them, and driven into 
the plaza, where they were received with 
shouts of applause if they appeared fierce, 
and likely to afford good sport, or of irony if 
they turned to fly, which happened more 
than once. 

Three or four bulls are driven in. They 
stand for a moment, proudly reconnoitring 
their opponents. The horsemen gallop up, 
armed only with the laso, and with loud in- 
sulting cries of "Ah toro!" challenge them 



90 



HTE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



to the contest. The bulls paw the ground, 
then plunge furiously at the horses, frequent- 
ly wounding them at the first onset. Round 
they go in fierce gallop, bulls and horsemen, 
amidst the cries and shouts of the spectators. 
The horseman throws the laso. The bull 
shakes his head free of the cord, tosses his 
horns proudly, and gallops on. But his fate 
is inevitable. Down comes the whirling rope, 
and encircles his thick neck. He is thrown 
down struggling furiously, and repeated- 
ly dashes his head against the ground in 
rage and despair. Then, his legs being also 
tied, the man with Ihe hissing red-hot iron in 
the form of a letter, brands him on the side 
with the token of his dependence on the lord 
of the soil. Some of the bulls stand this 
martyrdom with Spartan heroism, and do not 
utter a cry , but others, when the iron enters 
their flesh, burst out into long bellowing roars, 
that seem to echo through the whole coun- 
try. They are then loosened, get upon their 
legs again, and like so many branded Cains, 
are driven out into the country, to make way 
for others. Such roaring, such shouting, 
such an odor of singed hair and biftek au 
nature!, such playing of music and such 
wanton risks as were ran by the men ! 

I saw a toreador, who was always foremost 
in everything, attempting to drag a bull by the 
horns, when the animal tossed his head, and 
with one jerk of one horn, tore all the flesh 
off his finger to the very bone. The man 
coolly tore a piece off a handkerchief, shook 
the blood off his finger with a slight grimace, 
bound it up in a moment and dashed a way up- 
on a new venture. One Mexican, extraordi- 
narily handsome, with eyes like an eagle, but 
very thin and pale, is, they say, so covered 
from head to foot with wounds received in 
different bull-fights, that he cannot live long; 
yet this- man was the- most enthusiastic of 
them all. His master tried to dissuade him 
from joining in the sport this year ; but he 
broke forth into such pathetic entreaties, 
conjuring him " by the life Senorita," &c, 
that he could not withhold his consent. 



After an enormous number of bulls had 
been caught and labelled, we went to break- 
fast. 

The people were assembled in circles un- 
der the trees, cooking fowls and boiling eggs 
in a gipsy fashion, in caldrons, at little fires 
made with dry branches ; and the band, in 
its intervals of tortillas and pulque, favored 
us with occasional airs. After breakfast, we 
walked out amongst the Indians, who had 
formed a sort of temporary market, and were 
selling pulque, chia, roasted chestnuts, yards 
of baked meat, and every kind of fruit. We 
then returned to see a great bull-fight, which 
was followed by more herraderos — in short, 
spent the whole day amongst the toros, and 
returned to dinner at six o'clock, some in 
coaches, some on horseback. In the evening, 
all the people danced in a large hall ; but at 
eleven o'clock I could look on no longer, for 
one of these days in the hot sun is very fa- 
tiguing. Nevertheless, at two in the morn- 
ing, these men who had gone through such 
violent exercise, were still dancing jarabes. 

For several days we lived amongst the bulls, 
&c. Not the slightest slackening in the ea- 
gerness of the men. Even a little boy of ten 
years old, mounted a young bull one day, 
and with great difficulty and at a great. risk, 
succeeded in forcing him to gallop round the 
circle. His father looked on, evidently fright- 
ened to death for the boy, yet too proud of his 
youthful prowess to attempt to stop him. 

At night, when I shut my eyes, I see be- 
fore me visions of bulls' heads. Even when 
asleep I hear them roaring, or seem to listen 
to the shouts of "4^ toro /" 

After the the Bull-fights we now insert an 
account of the Cock-fights and Gambling 
Festival of Saint Augustin ! 

' Shortly after my arrival in Mexico,' says 
the author of the Recollections, ' the great 
gambling feast of St. Augustin took place. 
I am not sufficiently learned upon the sub- 
ject of Catholic saints to know why St. Au- 
gustin is the patron of gamblers, and his an- 
niversary is celebrated by all sorts of games. 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



91 



The village of San Augustin is about twelve 
miles from Mexico, and there this festival is 
celebrated. Every human creature in Mexi- 
co, high and low, old and young, who can 
get there, is certain to go. Rooms are en- 
gaged, and preparations made for weeks be- 
forehand. Doubloons, which are generally 
worth only fifteen dollars and a quarter, as 
the festival approaches rise in value to six- 
teen and seventeen dollars. It is not genteel 
to bet anything but gold. The scene opens 
with cock-fighting, about twelve o'clock. It 
is attended by everybody. When I entered 
the cock-pit, Santa Anna and Gen. Bravo, with 
a large number of the most distinguished men 
in Mexico, and quite a large number of ladies 
of the highest circles, were already there. 
The master of ceremonies on the occasion 
walked into the pit, and exclaimed two or 
three times, ' Ave Maria purissima los gallos 
vienen' — ' Hail, most pure Mary, the chick- 
en-cocks are coming.' Whereupon a cock 
is brought in covered, and a challenge is pro- 
claimed, a Voutranrc, to all comers, which is 
very soon accepted. The fowls are then uncov- 
ered, and allowed to walk about the pit, that 
the spectators may see them, and select the 
one on which they choose to risk their money. 
Those in the seats call some of the numerous 
brokers who are always in attendance, and 
give them whatever sum of money thev desire 
to bet, and designate their favorite cock. 
Before the fight commences, the broker re- 
turns and informs the person whose money 
he has received whether his bet has been 
1 taken. If he loses, he sees no more of the 
1 broker ; but if he wins, he is perfectly sure 
to get his money. A small gratification is 
1 expected by the broker, but never asked for, 
1 if it is not voluntarily given. I have been 
suprised to see these fellows, who are often 
entrusted with the money of a dozen differ- 
ent persons, never make a mistake as to the 
person for whom the bet was made, nor the 
amount of it. And it is another evidence of 
what I have before remarked as to the hon- 
esty of that class of Mexicans, that they never 



attempt to go off with the money, which they 
could so easily do, for it would be as impos- 
sible for a stranger to identify one of these 
Indians, as it would be to select a particular 
crow out of a flock of a hundred. 

I saw on these occasions, a sign which I 
thought ominous — there was always the most 
vociferous shouting whenever Santa Anna's 
fowl lost his fight. 

As soon as the cock-fighting is over, the 
gambling at monte commences. There are 
a great many public tables, and some private 
ones. It is at the latter only that Santa An- 
na plays. There are many tables where noth- 
ing but gold is bet, others where nothing but 
silver, and other tables again for copper. — 
The game is a perfectly fair one, and one at 
which cheating is, I should think, impossible. 

There is some very small advantage in the 
game in favor of the bank. I think it is on- 
ly this : if the bet is decided in favor of the 
better on the first turn, there is a very small 
deduction from the amount paid, an eighth, 
or perhaps a fourth. But there is another, 
and a much more important advantage to the 
bank, in this, as in all of these public games ; 
men always double and bet high when they 
have won, and, generally speaking, if the 
bank wins one bet in three, the better has 
lost in the end. I had not seen one of these 
public games played for very many years un- 
til I went to Mexico, and only saw it twice 
there ; but my own observation has fully sat- 
isfied me of the truth of what I have said, 
and I should rejoice to know that this sug- 
gestion had prevented any one person from 
indulging in those most pernicious of games, 
pernicious as all games of chances are. I 
was very much struck with one thing which 
I noticed. I have seen, I am sure, fifty thou- 
sand dollars on the tables at once, probably 
in fifty different piles, and belonging to as many 
different betters, and yet I never witness- 
ed a dispute of any sort as to the ownership 
of any one of these piles. I have seen a sum 
which the person who bet had omitted to 
take up when he had won ; no one claimed 



92 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



it until it had increased to quite a large sum ] respectability in the city of Mexico gamble 
by winning double every time : and when> at all. Sometimes an evening is passed in 
even, it would be asked whose bet it was, playing at monte for fourpences, when not 



and thus announced that it was forgotten, no 
one would claim it. 

The gravity and propriety of Spanish 
manners are never wanting, even at the gam- 
ing-table. I have seen men in the humbler 
walks of life lose several thousand dollars, 
and perhaps the last which they possessed, 
without a frown, or the slightest sign of emo- 
tion of any sort. Greatly pernicious as is 
the practice of gaming everywhere, and in 
all its forms, I do not think that it is any- 
where so much so as in Mexico. The peo- 
ple of all mining countries are characteristi- 
cally thriftless and improvident, but, I be- 
lieve, no where more than in Mexico. There 
are very few instances in Mexico of men 
who have any idea of that certain competen- 
cy which is. the reward of industry in any 
employment, and the savings of even small 
earnings, whereby the small gains of one 
year swell those of the next, which is so well 
expressed in the maxim of Dr. Franklin, 
'that the second hundred dollars is much 
easier made than the first, the first assisting 
to make the second.' Whilst they habitually 
postpone everything, hasta manana, until to- 
morrow, they never jthink of making any 
provision for that to-morrow. If they ever 
do lay up money, it is for the purpose of at- 
tending the feast of San Augustin, and with 
the hope of winning a fortune with it. They 
hear of some one, perhaps, who has done so, 
but they do not think of the thousands who 
have lost. 

There is a dance on the green in the eve- 
ning, and another ball in the Cock-pit at 
night, to which every one is admitted who is 
decently dressed and can pay for a ticket. — 
The first people in the city, of both sexes, 
are seen dancing with the most dissolute and 
depraved, not only in the same dance, but as 
partners. This feast lasts three or four days, 
and, from all that I saw, I should say that it 
is almost the only occasion when persons of 



more than three or four dollars are lost by 
any one. I can only say that, with the ex- 
ception of the annual feast of San Augustin, 
I never saw a pack of cards during my' 
residence in Mexico, except on two occa- 
sions, when a game of whist was played at 
the houses of private gentlemen/ 

All are on an equality at the cock-pit, — 
The President may be seen bending from his 
box and betting with a poor ragmuffin in the 
pit, Generals with their soldiers, and ladies 
with the gentlemen. Possibly some of these 
last bet as did the young lady and gentleman 
out in Ohio, in the Harrison campaign — if 
Harrison beat, he was to have her ; if Van 
Buren beat, she was to have him ! 

There is a passionate fondness for cock- 
fighting in Mexico. A traveller stopping at 
the city of Guanaxuato, was annoyed all 
night long by an incessant crowing. What 
to make of it he did not know ; he had nev- 
er heard the like, even after a political cam- 
paign in the United States. On sallying out 
after a sleepless night, he beheld more than a 
hundred cocks arranged on each side of the 
street, and fastened together by small ropes. 
The valiant birds, charged with Mexican 
pugnacity, had been exchanging their chal- 
lenges during the night, and were only by 
their fetters prevented from joining in hostile 
encounter. They belonged to the Governor 
of the town, who was an extensive dealer in, 
roosters ! 

The following candid remarks on Mexican 
character, are from the interesting work of 
Brantz Mayer, Secretary of the U. S. Lega- 
tion to Mexico, in 1841-2 : 

' I have adverted already in previous let- 
ters to the private character and domestic 
customs of the .Mexicans, and confess, that I 
came to the country with opinions anything 
but favorable to the morals, tastes, or habits 
of the people. It was alleged, that they en- 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



93 



tertained a positive antipathy to foreigners, 
and that the exclusive system of Spain, un- 
der which they were educated, had excited 
in them a distaste for innovation ; an insou- 
ciant contentment with the ' statu quo ;' and, 
in fact, had created in our New World a sort 
of China in miniature. 

I think it exceedingly reasonable, that the 
Mexicans should be shy of foreigners. They 
have been educated in the strict habits of 
the Catholic creed ; they know no language 
but their own ; the customs of their country 
are different from others ; the strangers who 
visit them are engaged in the eager contests 
of commercial strife; and, besides being of 
different religion and language, they are 
chiefly from those northern nations, whose 
tastes and feelings have nothing kindred with 
the impulsive dispositions of the ardent 
south. In addition to the selfish spirit of 
gain that pervades the intercourse of these 
visitors, and gives them no character of per- 
manency or sympathy with the country, they 
have been accustomed to look down on the 
Mexicans with contempt for their obsolete 
habits, without reflecting, that they were not 
justly censurable for traditional usages which 
they had no opportunity of improving by 
comparison with the progress of civilization 
among other nations. ■ 

Yet, treating these people with the frank- 
ness of a person accustomed to find himself 
at home wherever he goes, avoiding the egot- 
ism of national prejudices, and meeting them 
in a spirit of benevolence ; I have found them 
kind, gentle, hospitable, intelligent, benevo- 
lent, and brave. Among their better classes 
no people see more clearly than they do the 
vices of ill-regulated society and the misery 
of the,ir political condition ; but, when re- 
buked in the presumptuous and austere spirit 
of arrogant strangers, they repel the rudeness 
by distance and reserve. The consequence 
is, that these disturbers of social decency are 
seldom the chosen friends or inmates of their 
dwellings. The Mexicans are a proud and 
sensitive people ; yet none are more easily 



subdued by kindness — none more easily won 
by a ready disposition to mingle iu their 
ranks, and treat them with a due respect for 
their habitudes and their prejudices. 

There are but few entertainments given 
in Mexico, in comparison with those of other 
cities abroad, where a lavish expenditure in 
viands, lights, and amusements for the few 
hours of a single evening, are mistaken for 
the elegancies and refinements of genuine 
hospitality ; — instead, however, of those os- 
tentatious displays, there are frequent re- 
unions at turtulias, where an hour or two 
are most agreeably spent in friendly inter- 
course, and the unrestrained flow of pleasant 
and instructive conversation. 

I have already alluded to the extreme of 
fashionable life, and its disposition for the 
theatre ; and I do not intend to treat again 
of the propensity of the ultras to living thus 
constantly in the public eye, without devoting 
a portion of each day to that domestic inter- 
course and reunion which make the comfort 
and beauty of an English or American fire- 
side. I speak, however, of ih?A juste milieu 
of society, wherein resides the virtue and in- 
tellect of a country ; and I had an excellent 
opportunity of judging of the private life of 
this class during my stay in the Capital. 

It is the heart that is in fact the great 
characteristic of Mexicans, and especially of 
their females. There is a noble naturalness, 
an antique generosity about them, which is 
the parent of a multitude of virtues, and it 
is by an abandonment of themselves to im- 
pulses, that so much irregularity and indis- 
cretion have been frequently manifested, 
both in politics and society. 

I have said that the Mexicans are a people 
of quick talent, and my remark is borne out 
by the observation of all foreigners. They 
are quick to apprehend, quick of study, and 
quick in mastering a subject ; but this very 
facility, joined with their impulsiveness, is 
often fatal to their enduring application and 
progress. 

I came among these people an entire stran- 



9i 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



ger, without especial claims on their atten- 
tion, and studious to avoid that bill of ex- 
change hospitality, which is the result of in- 
troductory letters from former, and, perhaps, 
forgotten acquaintances. Yet mingling free- 
ly among all classes, and comparing them 
now — when gratitude for acts of kindness 
has been long yielded and the annoyance of 
petty impertinences forgotten — I have none 
but kindly recollections of the people, and 
none but favorable impressions of the mass 
of a society, in which I had been taught to 
believe that I should be held in utter antipa- 
thy as a heretical stranger. 

There are, of course, in Mexico as in all 
other countries, specimens of egotism, sel- 
fishness, haughtiness, ill-breeding, and loose 
morals, both among the men and the women; 
but, although we find these floating-like bub- 
bles on the top of society, they must not 
therefore be considered the characteristics of 
the country. You must separate from the 
multitude the few who sometimes lead and 
control the masses that do not wish to come 
in contact or conflct with them. A nation 
in which ' revolutions and counter-revolutions 
are events of almost daily occurrence, is nat- 
urally prolific in desperate and crafty politi- 
cal adventurers,' and dissimulation and strat- 
agem may, in time, form the chief element of 
the character of such a people ; — yet such, it 
is hoped, is not to be the corrupting fate of 
Mexico. 

The idea that large social entertainments 
require great magnificence and lavish expense, 
deprives the Mexicans, in' their towns, of 
many of those agreeable gatherings which fill 
up so pleasantly our winter nights and au- 
tumn evenings ; but it is on their haciendas 
or plantations, that their hospitality is most 
distinguished. As you had occasion to re- 
mark in the account of my journey to the 
tierra calicnte, nothing is withheld from you 
— their establishments are placed at your en- 
tire control, and the welcome is as sincere 
as it is hearty and cheerful. 

That they are brave, none will doubt, who 



read the history of their War of Indepen- 
dence, although the bad discipline (especial- 
ly of their officers,) has prevented the very 
eminent exhibition of this quality in their 
battles, with the troops of other nations. In 
fact, regard them in any way, and they will 
be found to possess the, elements of a fine 
people who want but peace and the stimulus 
of foreign emulation, to bring them forward 
among the nations of the earth with great 
distinction. 

In the summary I have endeavored to pre- 
sent you, of the Mexican character, I must 
not be charged with inconsistency by those 
who think I am contradicting what I have 
previously advanced, either about supersti- 
tious customs, or the vices that consign so 
many to the prison; and make others so reck- 
less of life and fortune. Those are evils be- 
gotten by the times and want of resources. 
At present, I treat neither of political nor 
social gamblers ; neither of female frailties, 
nor that crafty duplicity which leads to high 
places in the state ; neither of genteel va- 
grancy, nor the outcast leperos and ignorant 
Indians who form so large a portion of the 
population of the country. All these are nu- 
merous enough and bad enough. But it has 
been my task, amid the desolation and ruin of 
the country, amid the dust and ashes to which 
a great nation has been reduced by civil war — 
to seek for some living embers, and to dis- 
cover sufficient elements of a sound and 
healthful society, from which the regenera- 
tion of the country may be expected. With 
domestic virtue, genius, and patriotism, no 
people need despair ; and it must be the 
prayer of every republican that enough of 
these still remain in Mexico to reconstruct 
their government and their society.' 

The succeeding paragraphs on etiquette, 
costume, beauty, the 'leperos,' and letter- 
writers, are from the same interesting author. 

'The Mexicans are formally, and I think, 
substantially, the politest people I have 
met with. Bowing and shaking hands are 
common all the world over, and in our coun- 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



95 



try we do it stiffly, and often gruffly enough. 
Savages salute one another with a grunt, and 
the Chinese touch noses. But, in Mexico, 
there is something more than mere noncha- 
lant nods of recognition and' farewell. If 
you enter a Mexicans house, there is no rest 
among the inmates until you are made per- 
fectly at ease, and your hat and cane taken 
from you. The lady does not sit on the sofa 
— nod when you come in as if it were pain- 
ful to hend or rise — talk with you about the 
weather as if your rheumatisms made you a 
species of walking barometer — and then ex- 
pect you to nod again, and take yourself off 
as a bore ; but a frankness and a vvarmth are 
immediately thrown into the manner of the 
whole household as soon as you appear. No 
matter what they may be engaged in, or how 
much occupied ; all is forgotten in a moment, 
and they are entirely at your service. Here, 
in the United States, 1 have paid fifteen or 
twenty visits on a morning with a fashion- 
able lady. To do so in Mexico — a man 
would be set down as an oddity. A visit is a 
visit — it is intended to be something. Peo- 
ple feel that they can see, look at, and pass 
each other in the street ; and they think a 
stare of five minutes from a chair, as mean- 
ingless as a stare on one's legs in the high- 
way. In the saloon, they regard it proper to 
devote much time-to the interchange of opin- 
ions sociably ; and they look upon indiffer- 
ence or a distrait air, or what would else- 
where be be called fashionable ease, as little 
better than rudeness. 

Upon entering a room, after any unusual 
absence, if well known to all the members of 
the family, you go through the process of an 
embrace, and the health and occupation of 
every member of your family are minutely 
and affectionately inquired for. After a while, 
if there are girls in the house, a little music 
will be given, or their drawings, embroidery, 
or other pretty works displayed, as you are 
supposed to. have an interest in such things. 
And if you are a particular favorite, the lady 



of the mansion, who indulges in a tigarritto 
will 'take a delicate one from her golden etui 
light it, touch it to her lips, and present it to 
you. 

At parting, the ceremony is very formal. 
You bid good-bye with an embrace, or, if less 
acquainted, with a profound bow to each in- 
dividual ; you turn at the door of the saloon, 
and bow again ; the master of the house ac- 
companies you to the head of the stairs, 
where you shake hands and bow again ; you 
look up from the landing of the first flight of 
stairs, where you find him ready with another; 
and as you pass through the court-yard be- 
low, (if he like you, or happen to be a person 
of consideration,) you will find him gazing 
from among the flowers over the balustrade, 
and still gracefully nodding farewell! Be- 
fore this finale it is not very safe to put on 
your hat. 

The costume of the lower class of females, 
as you see them on the street, is the shawl, or 
reboso. Without it the dress is scarcely any 
dress at all : one garment — besides a petti- 
coat — braced with a sash around the waist, 
while the hair falls in a long plait down the 
back. With it — their costume is made up. 
Flung gracefully over the left shoulder and 
passed across the mouth — you see nothing 
but the eyes, which are her greatest charm , 
and she never attempts to conceal them or 
neglect their power. 

In speaking of fine eyes, the beautiful feet, 
and the queenly tread of the Mexican ladies, 
and their costume, I should not forget to men- 
tion that an%mbroidered India crape shawl, 
blazing with all the colors of the rainbow, 
and a painted fan, are indispensable portions 
of a complete dress. The fan is none of your 
new-fangled inventions of feather and finery, 
but the old-fashioned reed and paper instru- 
ments used by our grandmothers. The 
opening and shutting — the waving and folding 
of these is an especial language. They touch 
them to their lips — flirt them wide open — 
close them — let their bright eyes peep over 



98 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



the rim — display their jewelled hands and 
witching eyes, and, in fact, carry on a war- 
fare of graceful coquetry from behind these 
pasteboard fortresses, that has forced, ere 
now, many a stout* heart to cry for quarter!' 
'Passing from the Cathedral door to the 
south-eastern portion of the city, you reach 
the out-skirts, crossing, in your way, the ca- 
nals from the lake. I have rarely seen such 
miserable suburbs ; they are filled with hov- 
els built of sun-dried bricks, often worn with 
the weather to the shape of holes in the mud, 
while on their earthen floors crawl, cook, 
live and multiply, the wretched-looking popu- 
lation of leperos. 



their lairs, to sleep off the effects of liquor, 
and to awake to another day of misery and 
crime. Is it wonderful, in a city with an im- 
mense proportion of its inhabitants of such a 
class, (hopeless in the present and the fu- 
ture,) that there are murderers and robbers 1 
In the Indian population which pours into 
the Capital from the lakes, 1 must say that 
there is apparently more worth and charac- 
ter. You see them lolling about in their 
boats on the canals, and passing and repas- 
sing in their canoes, plying between the city 
and Chalco and Tezcuco. It is a beautiful 
sight to behold these tiny vessels skim like 
floating gardens to the quays in the morning, 



. ; • •> laden to the water's edge with the fruits, flow- 
This word, I believe, is not pure Spanish, ,,•-,, , L i 

ers and vegetables, that hide the skin that 



but is derived originally, it is said, from the 
Castilian lepra, or leper ; and although 
they do not suffer from that loathsome mala- 
dy, they are quite as disgusting. 

Blacken a man in the sun ; let his hair 
grow long and tangled, or become filled with 
vermin ; let him plod about the streets in all 
kinds of dirt for years, and never know the 
use of brush, or towel, or water even, except 
in storms ; let him put on a pair of leather 
breeches at twenty, and wear them until for- 
ty, without change or ablution; and, over all, 
place a torn and blackened hat, and a tatter- 
ed blanket begrimed with abominations ; let 
him have wild eyes, and shining teeth, and 
features pinched by famine into sharpness; 
breasts bared and browned, and (if females) 
with two or three miniatures of the same 
species trotting after her, and another cer- 
tainly strapped to her back : combine all 
these in your imagination, and you will have 
a recipe for a Mexican lepero. 

There, on the canals, around the markets 
and pulque shops, the Indians and these mis- 
erable outcasts hang all day long ; feeding on 
fragments, quarreling, drinking, stealing and 
lying drunk about the pavements, with their 
children crying with hunger around them. : — =■ 
At night they slink off to these suburbs and 
coil themselves up on the damp floors of 



bears them. 

Not the least curious among the multitude, 
with which the side-walk is generally throng- 
ed, are about a dozen " ev ang eh st as," or "let- 
ter-writers," whose post is always on the 
curb-stones of the eastern front of the Parian. 
A huge jug of ink is placed beside them ; a 
board rests across their knees; a pile of dif- 
ferent colored paper (most of which is either 
cut, valentine fashion, or flourished over and 
adorned with pen-and-ink ornaments,) is 
placed on it, and, on a stool before them, 
sits some disconsolate looking damsel or 
heart-broken lover, pouring out a passion 
which the scribes put into becoming phrase- 
ology. It is an important trade; and more 
money is earned, in Mexico by this proxy- 
making love, than perhaps any where else. 
You can have a "declaration" for one rial; a 
scolding letter for a medio ; and an upbraiding 
epistle full of daggers, jealousy, love, and 
tenderness, (leaving the unfortunate recipi- 
ent in a very distracted state of mind,) done 
upon azure paper be-sprinkled with hearts 
and doves, for the ridiculous price otticeniy- 
Jive cents !' 

The subjoined paragraphs on the style of 
beauty, female education, and etiquette, are 
from the interesting work of Madame Cal- 
deron, 'Life in Mexico.' 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



97 



'On first arriving from the United States, 
where an ugly woman is a phoenix, one can- 
not fail to be struck at the first glance with 
the general absence of beauty in Mexico. It 
is only by degrees that handsome faces begin 
to dawn upon us ; but, however, it must be 
remarked that beauty without color is apt to 
be less striking, and to make less impression 
on us at first. The brilliant complexion and 
fine figure ot an English woman strike every 
eye. The beauty of expression and finely 
chiselled features of a Spaniard steal upon us 
like a soft moonlight, while a French woman, 
however plain, has so graceful a manner ot 
saying agreeable things, so charming a tour- 
nure, such a p: quant e way of managing her 
eyes and even her mouth, that we think her 
a beauty afte> half an hour's acquaintance, 
and even lose our admiration for the quiet 
and high-bred, bat less graceful Angta&se. 
The beauty of the women here consists in 
superb black eyes, very fine dark hair, a 
beautiful arm and hand, and small, well-made 
feet. Their defects are, that they are fre- 
quently too short and too fat, that their teeth 
are often bad, and their complexion not the 
clear olive of the Spaniards, nor the glowing 
brown ot the Italians, but a bilious-looking 
yellow. Their notion of inserting the foot 
into a shoe half an inch shorter, ruins the 
foot and destroys their grace in walking, and, 
consequently in every movement. This fash- 
ion is, fortunately, beginning to fall into dis- 
use. It is therefore evident, that when a 
Mexicana is endowed with white teeth and a 
fine complexion, when she has not grown too 
fat, and when she does not torture her small 
foot to make it smaller, she must be extreme- 
ly handsome. 

Upon the whole, the handsomest women 
here are not Mexicans, that is, not born in 
the capital, but in the provinces. From Pu- 
ebla, and Jalapa and Vera Cruz we see many 
distinguished by their brilliant complexions 
and fine teeth, and who are taller and more 
graceful than those born in the city of Mex- 



ico; precisely as in Spain, where the hand- 
somest women in Madrid are said to be born 
out of it. 

In point of amiability and warmth of man- 
ner, I have met with no women who can pos- 
sibly compete with those in Mexico, and it 
appears to me that women of all other coun- 
tries will appear cold and stiff by compari- 
son. To strangers, this is an unfailing 
charm, and it is to be hoped that whatever 
advantages they may derive from their inter- 
course with foreigners, they may never lose 
this graceful cordiality, which forms so agree- 
able a contrast with English and American 
frigidity. 

There are no women more affectionate in 
their manners than those of Mexico. In 
fact, a foreigner, especially if he be an Eng- 
lishman and a shy man, and accustomed to 
the coldness of his fair country women, need 
only to live a few years here, and understand 
the language, and become accustomed to the 
peculiar style of beauty to find the Mexican 
Senoritas perfectly irresistible.' 

In speaking of the Indian girls in a village 
out from the city, the same writer says, ' Some 
of the young women were remarkably hand- 
some, with the most beautiful teeth imagina- 
ble, laughing and talking in their native 
tongue at a great rate as they were washing 
in the brooks, some their hair and others their 
clothes. These handsome damsels, one 
would think, had a mixture of Spanish blood 
in their veins. A sister of the woman who 
takes charge of the hacienda where we live 
is one of the most beautiful creatures I ever 
beheld. Large eyes, with long dark lashes, 
black hair nearly touching the ground, teeth 
like snow, a dark but glowing complexion, a 
superb figure, with fine arms and hands, and 
small and beautifully-formed feet. All that is 
best of Indian and Spanish, ' of dark and 
bright,' seemed united in her. She is only 
nineteen. Such beauties as these startle one 
now and then in some remote village. She 
belongs no doubt to the mestizos, the descen- 



f>8 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. , 



dants of whites and Indians, the handsomest 
race in Mexico. 

* You ask me, how Mexican women are edu- 
cated. In answering you, I must put aside a 
few brilliant exceptions, and speak en masse, 
the most difficult thing in the world, for these 
exceptions are always rising up before me 
like accusing angels, and I begin to think of 
individuals, when I should keep to generali- 
ties. Generally speaking, then, the Mexican 
Sehoras and Senoritas write, read and play a 
little, sew, and take care of their houses and 
children. When I say they read, I mean 
they know how to read ; when I say they 
write, I do no not mean that they can always 
spell ; and when I say they play, I do not as- 
sert that they have generally a knowledge of 
music. It we compare their education with 
that of girls in England, or in*the United 
States, it is not a comparison, but a contrast. 
Compare it with that of Spanish women, and 
we shall be less severe upon their farni nte 
descendants. In the first place, the climate 
inclines every one to indolence, both physi- 
cally and morally. One cannot pore over a 
book when the blue sky is constantly smiling 
in at the open windows; then out of doors 
after ten o'clock, the sun gives us due warn- 
ing of our tropical latitude, and even though 
the breeze is so fresh and pleasant, one has 
no inclination to walk or ride far. Whatever 
be the cause, I am convinced that it is im- 
possible to take the same exercise with the 
mind or with the body in this country, as in 
Europe or in the Northern states. Then as 
to schools, there are none that can deserve 
the name, and no governesses. Young girls 
can have no emulation, for they* never meet. 
They have no public diversion, and no private 
amusement. There are a few good foreign 
masters, most of whom have come to Mexico 
for the purpose of making their fortune, by 
teaching, or marriage, or both, and whose 
object, naturally, is to make the most money 
in the shortest possible time, that they may 
return home and enjoy it. The children 



generally appear to have an extraordinary 
disposition for music and drawing, yet there 
are i'ew girls who are proficient in either 

When very young, they occasionally attend 
the schools, where boys and girls learn to 
read in common, or any other accomplish- 
ment that the old women can teach them ; 
but at twelve they are already considered too 
old to attend these promiscuous assemblages, 
and masters are got in for drawing and mu- 
sic, to finish their education. I asked a lady 
the other day if her daughter went to school. 
' Good heavens !' said she, quite shocked, 
' she is past eleven years old !' It frequently 
happens that the least well-informed girls are 
the children of the cleverest men, who, keep- 
ing to the customs of their forefathers, are 
content if they confess regularly, attend 
church constantly, and can embroider and 
sing a little. Where there are more extended 
ideas, it is chiefly amongst families who have 
travelled in Europe, and have seen the differ- 
ent education of women in foreign countries. 
Of these, the fathers occasionally devote a 
short portion of their time to the instruction 
of their daughters, perhaps during their leis- 
ure evening moments, but it may easily be 
supposed that this desultory system has little 
real influence on the minds of the children. 
I do not think there are above half a dozen 
married women, 01 as many girls above four- 
teen, who, with the exception of the mass- 
book, read any one book through in the 
whole course of the year. They thus great- 
ly simplify the system of education in the 
United States, where parties aie frequently 
divided between the advocates for solid learn- 
ing and those for superficial accomplish- 
ments ; and according to whom it is difficult 
to amalgamate the solid beef of science with 
the sweet sauce of les beaux arts. 

But if a Mexican girl is ignorant she rare- 
ly shows it. They have generally the great- 
est possible tact; never by any chance wan- 
dering out of their depth, or betrayed by 
word or sign that they are not well informed 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



99 



on the subject under discussion. Though 
seldom graceful, they are never awkward, and 
always self-possessed. They have plenty of 
natural talent, and where it has been thor- 
oughly cultivated, no women can surpass 
them. Of what is called literary society, 
there is of course none — 

'No bustling Botherbys have they to shew 'em 
That charming passage iu the last new poem.' 

The following, from the same work, is an 
Editor's preface to a little Annual, dedica- 
ted to the ladies. The opinion of the polite 
Editor, Galvan, doubtless coincides with that 
of his countrymen generally, respecting the 
lovlier part of creation in Mexico. 

" To none," he says, " better than to Mex- 
ican ladies, can I dedicate this mark of 
attention. Their graceful attractions well 
deserve any trouble that may have been ta- 
ken to please them. Their bodies are grace- 
ful as the palms of the desert; their hair, 
black as ebony, or golden as the rays of the 
sun, gracefully waves over their delicate 
shoulders; their glances are like the peace- 
ful light of the moon. The Mexican ladies 
are not so white as the Europeans, but their 
whiteness is more agreeable to our eyes. 
Their words are soft, leading our hearts by 
gentleness, in the same manner as in their 
moments of just indignation they appal and 
confound us. Who can resist the magic 
of their song, always sweet, always gentle, 
and always natural ? Let us leave to foreign 
ladies these affected and scientific manners 
of singing; here nature surpasses art, as 
happens in everything notwithstanding the 
cavilings of the learned. 

' And what shall I say of their souls 1 I 
shall say that in Europe the minds are more 
cultivated, but in Mexico the hearts are 
more amiable. Here they are not only sen- 
timental, but tender; not only soft, but vir- 
tuous ; the body of a child is not more sen- 
sitive, nor a rose-bud softer. I have seen 
souls as beautiful as the borders of the rain- 



bow, and purer than the drops of dew. 
Their passions are seldom tempestuous, and 
even then they are kindled and extinguished 
easily; but generally they emit a peaceful 
light, like the morning star, Venus. Modesty 
is painted in their eyes, and modesty is the 
greatest and most irresistible facination of 
their souls. In short, the Mexican ladies, 
by their manifold virtues, are destined to serve 
as our support whilst we travel through the 
sad desert of life. 

' Well do these attractions merit that we 
should try to please them ; and in effect a 
new form, new lustre, and new graces have 
been given to the " Annual of the Mexican 
Ladies," whom the editor submissively en- 
treats to receive with benevolence this smal 1 
tribute due to their enchantments and their 
virtues!" 

One more extract from the same authoress, 
on sincerity and politeness. 

'Had a dispute this morning with an Eng- 
lishman, who complains bitterly of Mexican 
insincerity. I believe the chief cause of this 
complaint amongst foreigners consists in their 
attaching the slightest value to the common 
phrase, ' Esta a la disposition de V.' Ev- 
erything is placed at your disposal — house, 
carriage, servants, horses, mules, &c. — the 
lady's ear-rings, the gentleman's diamond pin, 
the child's frock. You admire a ring — it is 
perfectly at your service; a horse — ditto. — 
Letters are dated ' from your house ;' (de la 
casa de V.) Some from ignorance of the cus- 
tom, and others from knavery, take advantage 
of these offers, which are mere expressions 
of civility, much to the confusion and aston- 
ishment of the polite offerer, who has no 
more intention of being credited, than you 
have when, from common etiquette, you sign 
yourself the very humble servant of the 
greatest bore. It is a mere habit, and to call 
people who indulge in it insincere, reminds 
me of the Italian mentioned somewhere by 
Lady Blessington, who thought he had made 
a conquest of a fair Englishwoman, though 
somewhat shocked at her forwardness, be- 



»A 



-3 a 



100 



THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



cause in an indifferent note to him, she sign- 
ed herself, ' Truly yours.'' Shall [ ever for- 
get the crest-fallen countenance of a Mexi- 
can gentleman who had just purchased a very 
handsome set of London harness, when hear- 
inc it admired by a Frenchman, he gave the 
customary answer, ' It is quite at your dis- 
posal,' and was answered by a profusion of 
bows, and a ready acceptance of the offer ! 
the only difficulty with the Frenchman being 
as to whether or not he could carry it home 
under his cloak, which he did. 

If all these offers of service, in which it is 
Mexican etiquette to indulge, be believed in 
— ' Remember that I am here but to serve 
y OU ' — < My house and everything in it, is 
quite at your disposal ' — ' Command me in 
all things ;' we shall of course be disappoint- 
ed by finding that notwithstanding these reit- 
erated assurances, we must hire a house for 
ourselves, and even servants to wait on us ; 
but take these expressions at what they are 
worth, and I believe we shall find that peo- 
ple here are about as sincere as their neigh- 
bors.' 

The following is a good specimen of Med- 
ical etiquette from the same work : 

'I have passed nearly a week in a slight fe- 



ver ; shivering and hot. I was attended by 
a doctor of the country, who seems the most 
harmless creature imaginable. Every day he 
felt my pulse, and gave me some little inno- 
cent mixture. But what he especially gave 
me, was a lesson in polite conversation. Ev- 
ery day, we had the following dialogue, as he 
rose to take leave. 

'Madam! (this by the bed-side) I am at 
your service.' 

' Many thanks, sir. 5 

' Madam ! (this at the foot of. the bed) 
know me for your most humble servant.' 

' Good morning, sir.' 

' Madam ! (here he stopped beside a ta- 
ble) I kiss your feet.' 

' Sir, I kiss your hand.' 

' Madam ! (this near the door) my poor 
house, and all in it, myself, though useless, 
all I have, is yours.' 

' Many thanks, sir.' 

He turns round and opens the door, again 
turning round as he does so, 

* Adieu, Madam ! your servant.' 

' Adieu, sir.' 

He goes out, partly re-opens the door, and 
puts in his head, 

' Good morning Madam !' 



THE END. 



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